


A Veil of Lies

by Neferirkare_Kakai



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crack-ish, Darkrai’s actually really stupid but he hasn’t realized it yet, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Haphephobia, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Pathological Lying, Pearl is a Cinnamon Roll, Player Character's name is Pearl, Redemption, Unreliable Narrator, not really Crack though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neferirkare_Kakai/pseuds/Neferirkare_Kakai
Summary: Look, being thrown through time and space isn't fun in the first place. But being attacked while already in such a situation? That’s just bad manners. Darkrai would know, of course, suddenly being on the receiving end of just that.But at least he’s landed in the past, meaning he has got the perfect chance to take his revenge on those pesky ‘heroes’ that got him here in the first place.  And he’s got the perfect plan, this time: Disguise yourself as a perfectly harmless Pokémon, get close to them, and once they fully trust you… stab them in the back and watch them suffer!Now, if only he could stop himself from starting to like the once-human… that would be great. And where, exactly, has the original partner Pokémon gone?(was intended to be crack. is now just a story with the occasional humour but also angst and too many words. and a surprising amount of character development for Darkrai. basically the Redemption Arc he never got.)(Can be read without knowledge of the Mystery Dungeon Series)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 69





	1. Prologue, more like Pro-Nope

**Author's Note:**

> The story will be updated on the Kalends and Ides of the month (CET), because I am a history nerd and it sounds fancy. Today will be a double upload, and I might also post chapters on certain holidays.

„Darrr… cy. My name is Darcy.” Darkrai catches himself just barely from admitting his real identity. This mistake could have cost him his _entire plan_! But he was just… surprised! How should _he_ have known that the Chatot was going to ask for his name?!

Really, it is _impressive_ that he managed to catch himself like this! Others would not have been able to.

The bird, meanwhile, stares at him, clearly not entirely convinced, and finally, in a much-too-loud voice, cries out, “Isn’t Darcy a girl’s name?”

“N-No!” Darkrai cannot help but splutter in indignity. It is not! He… thinks. He actually does not know, it was simply the first thing that came to mind.

And, sure, maybe there have been many things on his mind those last few weeks, most of them having to do with getting his revenge on the pesky once-human and her friend, and also wondering why, exactly, he does not remember the specifics of how he ended up in the past, but… his mind is _brilliant_. Every name he came up with would therefore also be brilliant. And therefore…

“It is a male name too,” he huffs, “And even if it was not, it would not be my fault that my… _parents_ named me that.” Blast it, what is wrong with him today? He has never before been so bad at lying.

Does it have anything to do with having taken a – hm, what to call it? – a _stumble_ through time and space? It might have. After all, he got hurt rather badly, and after the worst pain wore of – after days, probably, Darkrai mostly only remembers feverishly lying in some kind of forest, slipping in and out of consciousness, sometimes not even knowing who he is or what he wants – he _did_ notice that his memory… must have taken a slight hit.

But only a slight one! Unlike the _once-human_ he did _not_ forget who he is.

… He simply forgot the events leading up to him being thrown back in time. But they will come back to him, he knows. It has not even been a month, after all. Some of his physical wounds still have visible scabbing, so really, he just needs to give the psychical wounds time to heal, as well.

Besides, even if he does not remember the specifics, he is rather sure that Cresselia was involved, as she always is; as well as the two Pokémon that foiled his plans _before_ ; and something tells him that there was someone else—

“Well, I’m not going to judge other Pokémon’s decisions!” The bird’s voice rudely pulls him out of his thoughts, and… did this bird just insult Darkrai’s non-existent, just-now-invented parents?! Oh, he is going to pay once this plan has come to its conclusion! Once Darkrai has created a world of darkness, then… well, insulting anyone’s parents will be in the bird’s last interest!

And then, to add insult to… insult, the Chatot, completely ignoring what it just insinuated, continues, “So, Darcy, what exactly did you want our guild’s help with?”

“Simply call me Duskull. And I came here…” Ugh, even _remembering_ that he had to float into this dreadful, dreadful building, shaped like a Wigglytuff of all Pokémon, simply because it is the local guild of Treasure Town (or, as he has dubbed it, Trash-Town) makes him almost shudder.

He wants to wash his whole body after this. He has always disliked having to be around Pokémon beneath his dignity (which is all of them), and there are just _so many_ of them in this town.

“Because I… am looking for my… cousin,” he finally continues the cover-story he came up with after illusioning himself as a mere Duskull. “I have not seen him,” oh blast it, was the Partner-Pokémon even male? Do Duskull distinguish genders? He sure hopes so, or else he will soon have a problem, “In quite a long time – he might not even remember me, it has been so long – but I felt the urge to find him again and reconnect.”

There, that sounds believable.

The Chatot cocks his head from side to side, and finally, finally after a much too long pause, asks, “Your cousin is a Duskull too, correct?”

… Obviously. Unless common Pokémon started calling each other cousin even if not related through blood (or whatever else they may have). Did they? He is not entirely sure. He is a Legendary Pokémon after all, a god amongst lesser creatures, destined for a much greater purpose than they could ever hope to achieve.

The form others see – of a mere Duskull, distinguishable only through its blue eye (and no, he does not lack the ability to illusion that as well – but one of the few things he remembers about the once-humans Pokémon-Partner was that he was a Duskull with a blue eye, and therefore, Darkrai thought it necessary to imitate that feature, if he truly wants to pass as a cousin) is not his true form, of course. He does not _know_ how exactly common Duskull work and act. Maybe they declare everyone their cousin.

Thus, he simply nods, something that he is not quite sure translates well into the illusion he is hiding his true self behind. Duskull, after all, don’t really have… necks to nod with. Thus, he also verbally answers. “Yes, he is.”

“What’s his name?”

What is this, an interrogation? He… does not know! He never cared enough to remember! But… wait, did the Partner’s name not start with a ‘Dar-’, just like his own cover-name just now? Yes, yes, that feels correct. “Dar-eios,” he makes up. After all, he has not seen his cousin in a very long time, so if he forgot the second part of the name, that would not be illogical. “Dareios, that was his name,” he ascertains.

The idiotic Chatot stares at him, seemingly appraising him, and then it… flutters its wings. In… happiness?

“Oh, that’s great! You know, Darcy, I was kind of doubting you at the beginning, but you are lucky! Your cousin lives right here in town!”

Yes! He was right after all!

“He is in charge of the bank!” Chatot chirps, very happily.

Wait.

What.

No, no that must be wrong! His memory might be a little muddled, but he _knows_ that the original Partner-Pokémon never worked at the bank! Did he… mix something up? But why does he even know the banker’s name?! He has only been in this town… once or twice before, and that was decades ago!

“Just follow me, I’ll bring you to him right now!” And with that, the bird flies up the ladder leading out of the guild. Darkrai can only follow. There way feels somewhat like a funeral march.

So… Darkrai’s plans are always brilliant, of course. He knows that. When it comes to planning, he is the best at it. Has always been. But even he can admit that some of his plans are not as… brilliant as others, and this one… might be one of those, unfortunately.

Oh, sure, when he woke up after being thrown through time and space—

No, alright, when he woke up then, he was not able to do much of anything. But _after_ most of his wounds had healed (there are a few that will most definitely scar – for example, three claw marks of an unknown source straight over his face, which he is not very happy about – in fact, he abhors the fact that he will most likely have those scars for eternity) he had realized that, whatever had thrown him through the Dimensional Hole had _also_ thrown at him the chance to do everything again, just better.

He just needed to pull the hero and her friend into a nightmare before they even knew what was going on! How perfect!

After another day, he had realized that he could, in fact, not change anything big, unless he wanted to completely disappear. He was not very keen on that. Thus, he changed his plan.

Now, instead of simply incapacitating the once-human and her friend before they could ever foil his plans, he would… well, dispose of the friend in a lasting way and take on his role, behaving just as the other did. Like this, Dialga should, theoretically, not notice the anomaly in time and… well, ignore Darkrai in turn. Besides, what with Temporal Tower almost collapsing, he should be too busy to notice a very small, very dangerous, anomaly, anyways.

And then, once everything had played out as it should, after Darkrai ensured his own continued survival… only after that would he finally take his revenge, by betraying the once-human who, at that point in time, would surely think of him as her very best friend. And after that… well, he _would_ create a world of darkness, by whatever means presented themselves.

He had always been good at acting from the shadows, after all.

And this was how, in the end, Darkrai ended up posing as the banker’s cousin.

Oh, of course, the stupid Duskull in the bank does not know him, but it claims that “Ah, yes, I do have many cousins – I’m sorry if I don’t really remember you, but we must have met when we were young, right?” and Darkrai cannot do anything but play along.

At least it gets him a place to stay at, Dareios the (real) Duskull being more than happy to help his ‘cousin’ out, after Darkrai comes up with a story of how he got knocked out in a Mystery Dungeon ( _he would never get himself knocked out in a Dungeon!_ ) and thus lost almost all of his possessions.

“And of course, there are a few Pokémon who know about this little cliff-cave,” the ghost says and then, he snickers, something that he does after almost every sentence, as Darkrai has come to realize, “But none have as of yet decided to make it their home, and thus, I believe that none will have any objections. And if they do…” He snickers to end his sentence.

Darkrai keeps himself from rolling his eye. What did he do to deserve this? Was it his plans? Because no matter how many times everyone else will try to tell him, will try to convince him that he is _evil_ for coming up with them, trying to make them come true… He does not care. He does not care what a world that has always hated him thinks, and he also does not deserve a ‘cousin’ who snickers after what feels like every word.

What did he even mean to insinuate by doing so? Snickering is not a proper way to end a sentence! Evil laughter might be, but not snickering.

“This will… certainly do as a home,” Darkrai finally says, after the silence grows a little too long.

And really, it will. Against most expectations, he does not need many luxuries – in fact, he needs almost none of that. He has lived in caves before, even alongside feral Pokémon in Mystery Dungeons. He can sleep on a bed just as well as simple hay; and more often than not, he has slept on the ground without even thinking of making a fuss about it.

(Alright, he might have thought about it, but only if others were around he could blame for the entire situation)

“Wonderful! Since you know where to find me, now, I will let you settle in,” Dareios snickers, and then, also adds, “And if you need to earn a little coin, I would be glad to have you help me at my bank. I am sure you know how to give money a good resting place.” And, like the infuriating Ghost Type he is, he simply turns around and floats away, right through the cave’s wall.

Sure, the cave has a proper set of stairs leading into it, even a doorframe (although no door, unfortunately – maybe Darkrai should think about acquiring one); but leave it to Ghost Types _not_ to use such things.

Maybe Darkrai is the exception to it, but he does not understand how they can spend so much time inside walls. He would starve after approximately three hours. Less, most likely.

But well, with the ghost having finally left, there is now at least a bit of silence. Except for the sound of the wind blowing around the cliff and the waves crushing against it, but that is not noise by his standards. It is much better than the town. That is much too crowded and loud.

He sighs and looks around again. A ground covered by a mixture of dirt and small rocks, the beginnings of grass growing on it – over the course of spring, Darkrai is sure that it will only become more – some vines on the walls, a merrily flowing small spring. It seems to have it beginnings somewhere inside the cave walls, which is rather convenient.

Oh, and there is also the gaping opening towards the ocean. As far as he has learnt, the cliff in which the cave is situated as “Sharpedo Bluff”, due to it strongly resembling a Sharpedo’s gaping mouth. He can surely see the resemblance.

Well. It is not too bad. If it rains and the winds are strong, there might be the problem of water getting in, but for now, it is alright. He can work with this.

For now, he will go to the spring and finally, finally wash himself properly. The last days, no, it must have been two weeks by now, were first spent lying in pain (he would rather not repeat that) and then travelling toward Trash Town. He feels disgusting, even if he made sure to wash himself along the way.

And his illusioned form might not show any of that – might not even show the wounds he still carries – but beneath it, he is still himself, and he still has hair which got tangled beyond belief.

So that is what he will do. Wash himself, make more of a living space of this cave, and then… assimilate himself in the town. Wait for the hero to show up. And then. Well. Revenge will be sweet.

Living in Trash Town… is annoying, and he just cannot keep himself from being cynical. He tried to reign himself in, at first, and did so successfully for some weeks, even months (he has always been a great actor), but… after even more months passed, after the months became years, he stopped bothering. He can only take so much stupidity until he snaps.

Trash Town is one of the biggest on the Grass Continent, and as such, it sees a lot of travel – not just from the rest of the continent but also the others, what with its position on the coast. And after the first few days, he decided to accept his ‘cousin’s’ proposition to help him at the bank – after all, he needs to fit in.

Unfortunately, that means dealing with all the Pokémon passing through town, and also having to have conversations. Daily.

If someone tells him once that “Well, as a Ghost Type you would not understand,” he can force a smile and move along. If he hears “That blue eye of yours is really unnatural, you know that?” twice, he can nod and just ignore whoever said it. But if he hears something like “And now the apples got _more pricey_ again, can you believe that?” for the third time in a single day, can he really be seen at fault for snapping, “I do not care” at the customer who said it? He cannot. It is perfectly natural.

The Pokémon living in the town adjust to it, anyways – idiots, all of them. Those that pass through might sometimes throw him annoyed glances, but after he glances back at them with murderous intent, they mostly move along quite fast. Really, he should be lauded for not having thrown all of them into an endless nightmare yet. All of them are _so bothersome_.

Well, Dareios may be alright – especially since the ghost realized the immense amount of pent-up energy within Darkrai (anger, mostly) and decided to show him a way to cope with that, it being…

Pranks.

At first, he reacted sceptical – pranks, really?

But really, pranks are just a simpler form of scheming, with not quite as extreme outcomes as his normal plans.

Chansey makes a derisive comment in passing? How unfortunate that the next morning, she finds her fur dyed blue. The green Kecleon sells him an apple that tastes bad? Seems like all of their wares are in disarray shortly after. One of the town’s many kids makes fun of his blue eye? How surprising that the next thing she eats happens to be a Nomel Berry, with no one knowing how it got in her hand.

It is like… scheming world domination, but on a much smaller scale.

…

…… He somewhat likes it.

The original partner never shows its face in the following years. That is… kind of concerning. Maybe Darkrai screwed something up on his way to Trash Town, which in turn kept the partner from ever stepping foot into town? He has never really liked the implications of the Butterfree-Effect.

But he has not made himself disappear yet, so Dialga should not have noticed.

Still, Darkrai will have to be exceedingly careful.

Troubles and annoyances aside, he falls into his role with relative ease. There are, of course, a few things he really hates about it – having to downplay his brilliance, intellect and prowess, having to change his waking cycle from being awake at night and sleeping at day to the other way around, having to _not_ threaten anyone who manages to invoke his anger (almost everyone) – but mostly, it is… acceptable. Not the funniest plan he has ever had, but one of the safest, probably.

He mostly spends his days either training (which means entering the local Mystery Dungeons and beating up the feral Pokémon within them) or helping his ‘cousin’ at the bank. And pranking, of course, so that he keeps his scheming abilities alive. A kind of boring rhythm creeps into his life before he has truly taken notice of it, and once it does, it is too late to change it.

If he was a lesser being, he would try to rush things, but since he is not, he accepts that good plans need time to grow. A boring rhythm is part of that, unfortunately.

And after four or five years have passed, there finally comes the moment where he finds an unconscious Piplup lying on the beach, just after a heavy storm. The hero! Finally!

Obviously, he does not know how she and her partner originally met, but does it really matter?

A long as Dialga takes no notice, it does not.

So for now, Darkrai just needs to stop himself from openly showing his disgust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is (basically) completely finished and has roughly 250.000 words. I will therefore definitely finish posting it! There are a few extra chapters after the story's climax which are not finished yet, however, I will most definitely have them done in time. The chapters vary in length, but after a short phase of growth, they will settle at around 6.000-8.000 words.  
> Also, English is not my native language, and while I am somewhat sure on my grasp on it, mistakes will still happen! So if you find any, I'd be incredibly thankful if you could point it out so I can edit it away!  
> Anyways, fun fact, this story was started about a year ago, with me believing that it would be a quick, simple Crack Fic with not much more than 10.000 words. Now look at me. I basically wrote a book.  
> Finally, the biggest possible thanks I could give to my beta  WolfsThyme ! The story would not be what it is without her.  
> Last but not least, thank you for reading!


	2. Of Social Skills and Antisocial Skulls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter: After being thrown through time and space, Darkrai found himself in the past once again. He decided to use this as a chance to get close to the hero who will one day foil his plans. After ‘infiltrating’ Treasure Town and taking on the role of ‘Darcy the Duskull’, cousin of the resident bank teller, he waited for the hero’s arrival. After around five years, he finally found her passed out on a beach.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enter me: trying to explain why the legendaries in pmd have male/female pronouns

“Hey you, are you alright?” Darkrai asks the Piplup, without any contempt dripping into his words.

_(Please don’t be alright, please be on the verge of dying so I can just kill you and claim that you were already dead-, No wait, that would not be a proper revenge at all! Don’t die before I can kill you!)_

He knows how to act like a nice Pokémon, alright? So what if there was maybe a little disgust to be heard? If the human-turned-Pokémon’s experience with being attacked while travelling through time and space is just a little bit similar to his own, she will be too out of it to notice it.

“Ugh,” the human-turned-Pokémon groans very eloquently, which means that she is still alive. Which is great! Now, he can truly start his revenge. Years of planning and presenting himself in the role of a lowly Duskull, finally coming to fruition!

When nothing more comes out of her beak, he speaks up again. “You were lying here unconsciously, do you need any help?” And he even made this question sound friendly. He thinks. Maybe it was the sarcastic kind of friendly.

“Uh… I…” The Piplup looks around, confused. There is not much to see – just the sandy beach, surrounded by high cliffs and a few trees (palms and tamarisks alike), a sun on its way down, the ocean. And a few Krabby blowing bubbles, but they are basically part of the beach, anyways. It could be almost every beach, so knowing her surroundings does not tell her anything.

“I… Uh…” Not a good conversationalist after just being attacked and spat out of a Dimensional Hole, huh? Well, he was not either, so this, at least, can be forgiven. However, her travelling back in time to stop his first plan of stopping time from coming to fruition? Horrible manners. He hates her for that and more.

“Well, in any case, I am called Darcy,” he keeps the conversation going, “If you happen to carry one, too, what is yours?”

And oh, how Darkrai has come to hate this stupid name over the last few years. Why had he not thought about coming up with one before everything? A good one, that strikes reverence into the hearts of those who hear it, like…

Hm. He actually does not know. Names have, admittedly, never been of much interest to him. He does not _really_ need one, after all, since there is only one of his species. Or did not need one. Maybe his previous disinterest was why he ended up with such a bothersome one.

He truly hates it, anyhow. Whenever he tells it, there is at least a chance of 80% that Pokémon will just ask him if it is a _girl’s name_. It is not! Does he look like a girl or what?!

Not that he has a _real_ problem with being considered female, per se – there have been times where he decided to use female pronouns, there have been times where he chose none at all. Most Legendaries are very liberate with what they consider themselves. But at the moment, he is presenting as male, very _obviously_ , so everyone can just go and act like it! Besides, it is just _incredibly impolite_ to ask someone who is very obviously presenting themselves as male if they are truly _sure_ that their name is _correct_ and—

Just accept that it is his name. His name that he blurted out in a moment of weakness and truly hates now, because it also sounds very stupid.

_(This lack of proper planning was why you got yourself kicked into a Dimensional Hole!)_

In the future, he will make sure to—

Oh wait, is the other Pokémon answering already?

“I… uh, I’m Pearl… But since when could Pokémon talk?”

What a truly benighted question. Was this really the adversary he lost to? Embarrassing.

“… Since the moment the universe was created. In fact, Pokémon have been able to talk for far longer than humans- At least the Legendaries. Did you hit your head somewhere?” Maybe he should instead ask, ‘Did _I_ hit your head somewhere’, but then again, that would be incredibly stupid, so he does not.

“I… don’t know…” she mutters, staring at the sand, very apparently not knowing what to do. It could not be pleasant to be sitting on it for so long, could it? He is only standing on it on his, admittedly, very small feet, and is already feeling the heat of it. And it’s evening by now. He would not like to imagine what it had to feel like at midday during summer’s heat.

Oh, wait. An answer, he should probably think of one. Not that she asked a question, but normal Pokémon do not ignore their interlocutors.

“In any way, what brought you here? I do not remember ever having seen a Piplup around Tra-Treasure Town, before.”

“A Piplup?”

“Well, yes. You do know that you are a Piplup, do you not?”

Honestly, waiting all the years for the moment in which his adversary realizes that she is not a human anymore was worth it, definitely.

The terror, the realization setting in, the panic! Making sure that he spoke the truth (he won’t let it become a habit) by turning left and right, staring at her own little blue body, truly seeing that she is not human anymore…

It is simply _delightful_ to watch.

He snickers – a bad habit he got into since assuming the role of a Duskull. He blames Dareios for it. It is not Darkrai’s fault that he needed to learn how to behave like a proper Duskull from a real Duskull!

“I-, I-, But I am a human!” ( _the Piplup? Once-Human? just calling her Pearl would probably be easiest, so he will stick to that-_ ,) Pearl shrieks in terror, turning hysterically from left to right, trying to get a good look at herself.

“You do not seem like a human to me. Or maybe humans nowadays look like Piplup, who knows?” He snickers, once again.

“This isn’t funny!” she shouts, still horrified.

“I apologize,” he answers, not meaning it even a little.

“I-, I-, I’m sure I should be a human!”

“Calm yourself, I do not doubt you. In fact, I believe you,” he says, trying to calm her down. After all, he is supposed to become _her ‘best friend ever’_ (these words leave a disgusting taste in his mouth, even though he did not speak them), who would definitely never betray her. Ever.

… Maybe making fun of her was not the best decision. He is supposed to be a nice, friendly Pokémon. Not… his usual self.

Well, too late now to change anything. Except if he got thrown into the past a second time, but he would rather avoid that scenario.

“You do?” she asks, stopping her attempts at looking at her new body to instead stare at him with big eyes.

Do all Piplup have such big eyes? It is honestly a little disconcerting. Not even Jirachi has such big eyes – no, wait, on second thought, it might have.

But that is not important at the moment! He needs to concentrate on the conversation, darn it!

“Of course,” he finally answers. After all, if he did not believe it, why would he claim it? Oh, wait, because he is always lying, that is true… Still, she could not know that, so a little more trust, please!

”There have been happening a lot of peculiar things lately,” he starts to explain, “Feral Pokémon growing aggressive, natural disasters, disappearances… So a human turning into a Pokémon is not that farfetched, do you not think so, too?”

It kind of is – in fact almost none of the things he mentioned are truly happening so much as to be very noticeable. He does not say so. Pearl does not answer his rhetorical question, anyways, so he continues his spiel.

“So, why did you turn into a Pokémon?” he asks, knowing fully well why Pearl turned into a Pokémon. Well, not completely. Him attacking her while she travelled through time had most likely something to do with that, but… Why it also turned her into a Pokémon, he does not know. It is not as if he has the ability to do so.

… He thinks. He would not suddenly develop it, would he? A question for another day.

Anyways, seeing as he is still not supposed to know anything about her, admitting to knowing anything about her would not be very smart, so he does not do so.

“I… I don’t remember! I don’t remember anything!” She cries out in obvious panic, her eyes no longer wide in… adulation, but rather horror.

And there it is, the amnesia that made him believe that she was no threat.

_(Oh, how stupid Past-Darkrai was. Well, he is here to redo everything. Screw you, Past-Darkrai.)_

“Calm down,” he tries, but she does not listen and instead starts to breath heavily and uneven.

Did the original Duskull also have to deal with this? How bothersome. He does not know how to calm anyone down, least of all a panicking Piplup that was a human until a few hours ago. What are the usual things Pokémon do to calm others?

“Calm yourself!” he snaps, but his words do not even seem to register, which is just _great_. Wonderful. This is how he imagined his day going.

“There is no need for you to panic!” he calls again, which finally gets her to look at him, and then start to hiccup as if she is about to cry.

“But-But I don’t-, I don’t remember _anything_!”

He barely keeps from rolling his eyes. If she does not remember anything (which is not true, the knowledge of her name and previous personhood very obviously not having disappeared) then why can she panic about that? Should she not just remain calm, since she does not know what she lost?

Ugh. Pokémon (and humans) beneath his dignity are so very bothersome.

“Well, you obviously remember how to panic,” he huffs, but as that makes her breathing even _more frantic_ (why??), Darkrai decides that, really, words cannot be of help her. Rather, he will have to…

He does not want to, but…

Darkrai decides to pat her on her shoulder (her fin?). Ugh, his hand feels _disgusting_ now. It is tingling all wrong and he would really love to just cut it off. He won’t, of course, because he always gets that feeling when he touches others, but he still resents having to experience it now.

At least she looks at him with her big eyes again, this time not snapping back or anything.

“It is alright, we will figure it out,” He manages to force out, because he still has a role to play, no matter how much he hates it, “For now, let us simply--“

And before he can end the sentence, someone crashes into him, _hard_. He, in turn, almost tumbles against Pearl.

Too much physical contact, this is abhorrent!

Angrily, he turns around. He already has a hunch as to who it is – for some time now, the self-dubbed ‘bad guys’ of the town have started to harass him, because, well, he is actually not sure. Of all the Pokémon living in the village he is probably… the least approachable.

Sure, he always _tries_ to act like a young-ish, somewhat friendly Pokémon, but if that young, friendly Pokémon also happens to have a cynical streak, so what? And if that young Pokémon also dislikes physical contact, who could fault it? And if the same Pokémon is known for its mean comments, that is just part of its charm, is it not?

Generally, the others still accept him (he thinks), but make sure not to enrage him.

Except for “Team Skull”, as they like to call themselves. Those folks just love riling him up, believing themselves to be _so much_ stronger. Just they wait – once he gets the chance to fight against them without holding back, they are going _straight to the Distortion World_. The only thing that saved them until now was that they only ambushed him in the Town and there, fighting is forbidden. Not that Darkrai abides by the law, normally, but he is not particularly feeling like spending a night in a holding cell.

“Well, I do beg your pardon,” Koffing says, a wide grin plastered on his ugly face.

“I would rather have you beg for your life once I am done with you,” Darkrai shoots back, and oh no, was that too vindictive? Will Pearl now stop trusting him?

_(She cannot, or else all his years of planning are for naught!)_

Team Skull, however, does not take his threat very serious ( _they should!_ ) – after all, they know his way of speaking to them, by now. And unfortunately, speaking is all he can really do in town.

“Pffft, as if you can face up to us, squirt!” Zubat barks back, and you know what? Darkrai is going to plunge them into a world of nightmares _soon_.

“Hey, that’s yours, isn’t it?” Zubat suddenly asks, and Darkrai stares at it, confused, until suddenly, the bat makes a grab for- His _Relic Fragment_!

_His_ Relic Fragment!!

How dare they! He found it when he was still on his way to Trash Town, and immediately recognizing it for what it was, took it with him – he has been carrying it around his neck ever since. After all, it is very curious for one of them to be in the ‘normal world’, at all.

(And even more curious for Darkrai to happen about it, but he decided not to question it too much. Seldom, luck was on his side, and he was not about to question that.)

Anyways, it might still be important. And now this… this _scum_ just took it!

They laugh, and then, with a “See you around, coward,” they take off into the Mystery Dungeon situated in the cave which is right at the beach – generally simply referred to as ‘Beach Cave’ – together with _his_ very important Relic Fragment.

“They just took my…” he cannot help but breath out in disbelieve. It all happened so fast! He should have run after them, but he does not _run_. No one with even an ounce of self-worth runs. It simply does not look flattering.

So the only logical thing he can do now is to follow them – at a sedate pace. Who knows what they would try to use it for! Maybe they would just throw it into the sea, just to spite him! He really cannot allow that.

“Your… Fragment?” a voice asks, sounding confused. For a second, Darkrai is confused, too – he does not know and females with a voice like this from Trash Town, does he? But then, he realizes that, ah yes, the hero is still here too, is she not?

“Yes. I…” He thinks fast, “I have always had it.” Not a lie, really. Since posing as a Duskull, he has always had it, at least.

“It means… quite a lot to me, thus, I need to get it back.” Also not necessarily a lie. It does not hold much emotional value, true, but it still means much to him because he is _pretty_ sure he is still going to need it, at some point. Even if that point will be decades in the future. Or simply to rub it under Dialga’s nose that _Darkrai_ has it.

… Had it, technically.

“Should I-, Can I help you?” Pearl tentatively asks, and there it is, the friendliness that made her into a beloved hero. Darkrai would never offer to help anyone just minutes after meeting them. He would generally not offer to help anyone, unless he could gain something by it.

But, well, it would be stupid not to make use of this _generosity_ most others posses, Pearl included, right?

“Indeed you can. Let us go after them and see if they cannot be taught a lesson yet,” he says. Next to him, Pearl seems to shudder. Oops. Maybe he used his murderous voice.

Not that it matters. He turns around and starts to float towards the Beach Cave, Pearl following him immediately.

Once they are in the Mystery Dungeon, surrounded by damp cave walls, the ground littered with either dried or half-dried seaweed, Darkrai has to explain to the oblivious human/Pokémon a lot. Like, _a lot_.

But he does so patiently, because after all, he wants to become her best friend, right? He explains how the Mystery Dungeons work and are ever changing; the current situation of their world (at least what the other Pokémon believe); he tells her of exploration teams and guilds.

“Okay, so one thing I don’t get,” she finally asks, “Why do Mystery Dungeons change constantly? I understand that they do, but… just why?”

“A good question, if still unanswered,” Darkrai says, and then he cannot hold back because this might be the first time in years that he has someone who truly listens and believes his every word, “There are certainly many theories out there. The one I personally believe in—“

He stops short. Hm. Maybe he should not talk about that one? It would certainly show his immense knowledge of things he _probably_ should not know about, if he were the lesser being he is posing as. Then again, Pearl is… she would not know the implications of him knowing it. But she could tell someone else, who _would_ realize it.

“Yeah?” she asks, and he must hold back! He cannot just tell her the best theory there ever has been about Mystery Dungeons!

(It is the best because he came up with it, obviously.)

He is very weak when it comes to stopping himself from monologuing, though, and since this is a very obvious invitation to do so, he decides that, blast it, he _will_ tell her.

“Maybe you do not know, but there are mystical objects strewn throughout the whole world called ‘Time Gears’. In certain areas, they control the time, but still, there is also a Legendary Pokémon responsible for doing the same task.”

“Time Gears? Hm, that sounds familiar, somehow…” She trails off. Well, obviously she would have the feeling as if she sometime knew about them. She did. She does not mention them anymore and instead asks, “There is a Pokémon responsible for time?”

… Being interrupted during a monologue is _rude_.

“Yes, there is,” he forces out, “Called Dialga. Very powerful, if you do not have to ever meet him, do not try to meet him.” He is not speaking from experience, of course not. “Anyways, while Dialga definitely controls time and its flow, even has a tower for this very reason, these Time Gears still exist. For what reason? No one is really sure. Now, Dialga also has an equivalent in Palkia, the deity of space. Just as Dialga, Palkia also has his own realm, from which he controls space and makes sure that no distortions happen,” he pauses for dramatic effect, “And I believe that Mystery Dungeons are his equivalent of Dialga’s Time Gears.”

“… I don’t think I get it,” Pearl sighs.

“I would not expect you to,” he automatically answers and then backtracks, “With that, I mean, not at first. But seeing as space is clearly in a sort of disarray within Mystery Dungeons, I believe that it makes sense that these slight distortions are necessary to keep the rest of the world stable.”

“Oh, okay, like this it sounds… somewhat logical?”

“Of course it does, I said it,” he answers and… maybe not the best answer. Then, he sighs. “Of course, this theory might just be completely false, and it is simply Giratina trying to assert influence on our world.”

“Giratina?”

“Another Legendary, part of the trio that Dialga and Palkia are part of.”

“And what’s he… she? responsible for? Like, you said Dialga was time, right, and Palkia, uh, space? So is Giratina… uh…”

“Last I heard, Giratina was going by ‘She’. And, to put it simply, she is the counterweight to Dialga and Palkia. Antimatter, if you want. She did something… unforgiveable and was banished to the Distortion World for it, where she remains, to this day.”

“Distortion World?” Pearl interrupts, and Darkrai has to take an incredibly deep breath to calm himself down. He is monologuing! Don’t interrupt, darn it!

“A counterweight to our world. The rules that apply here do not apply there, to put it simply. It keeps our world in balance. _Anyways_ ,” he starts, pointedly pronouncing the word, “I do believe that she is rather happy to be there, but who knows, maybe Mystery Dungeons are her way of telling a certain Creator Pokémon what she thinks about it.”

“Wait, wait, wait, what Creator Pokémon?” Pearl asks, sounding very confused.

“I am not going to talk about that being,” he answers, rather icily. Arceus and him are _not_ on good terms.

His slight outburst gets her into embarrassed stammering. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t want to-, to seem too assuming or anything, it’s just, this is all very new to me and you just seem to know so much and I’m sorry, alright? I won’t ask about it again…” she trails off, seemingly rather unsure.

Ugh. He does not feel bad, no. But he needs to be her friend, and just snapping at her for reasons she does not understand is probably not the way to go. Not that he _snaps_. He simply chastises.

“It is alright,” he therefore reassures, “It was not truly your fault. I simply… one generally does not talk about this being, which you obviously would not know, since you are not a real Pokémon.”

This is, of course, a lie – while Arceus is not featured in most conversations because most Pokémon simply do not know about it, it is not like they are not allowed to do so. But Pearl does not need to know that.

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you anyway for telling me all this! You really, really know so much!”

“I simply… Legendary Pokémon interest me, so I have read up a lot about them.” Blast it, he really said too much, did he not? He got carried away, as he often does when monologuing. He will have to be more careful in the future.

“Still, it’s really cool! I’m very thankful for everything you tell me!” she answers, a big smile on her face.

Much too trusting. She is really much too friendly and trusting. Not that he has a problem with that.

Pearl is surprisingly good at being a Pokémon. Tries her best and all, and for the most, Darkrai lets her fight. Sure, it might be counterproductive to help her become more powerful, but she insists on leading after understanding the mechanics of the Dungeon and since he wants to keep his best attacks for when he beats up those stealing punks, he lets her.

“Hey, Darcy, another question?” she asks after what could not have been more than five minutes of silence. She is rather… talkative.

“What is it?”

“Uhm, okay, so I’m new to this so maybe it is obvious to you, but the Pokémon we’ve been encountering in this Dungeon are… uh…”

“Feral,” he states, “Is what you wanted to say, correct?”

Tentatively, she nods.

“And you want to know why they are so different from me and you?”

Again, she nods.

“Well. As I told you earlier, Mystery Dungeons do not follow the rules that other places do. However, some Pokémon, at some point in time, still decided to make it their home, and therefore, they are also different from everyone outside. They see the Dungeons as their territories and therefore attack intruders – like us.”

Just as he finishes the sentence, a feral Corsola tries to attack – he knocks it to the side with a simple swipe of his hand, which knocks it out immediately. How weak. Normally, of course, he would not attack with his hand like this, but really, it feels disgusting anyways from the previous touch still, so best to make use of it until he gets a chance to properly wash it.

“Generally, they are nonverbal, although some of them seem to develop the ability to speak. Those will often leave their Dungeons if a chance presents itself, and then be integrated into ‘normal’ life. And there are sometimes also some verbal, non-feral Pokémon living in the Dungeons, seeing them as their territory. Who knows, they might just be the parents of the next generation of normal feral Pokémon. Does this answer your question?”

“I… yeah, I think for now it does. Thanks again! Hey, that’s the stairs you told me to look out for, aren’t they?”

He nods – indeed they are. From his previous explorations of this Dungeon he knows that this will lead them to its end – and hopefully Koffing and Zubat, too. If they are not there…

Well.

The innermost cave looks friendly enough - there is an opening towards the ocean, showing the horizon and sun, which is really about to set by now. It fills the entire cave with strong light, entering in an almost direct angle. The walls of the cave here are also somewhat wet, giving it a nice, semi-cold climate. Not cold, just cool. The only unpleasant things are, of course, Koffing and Zubat, who are already waiting for them.

“Give me back my Relic Fragment,” Darkrai states, trying very hard not to sound _too_ demanding. He is only a Duskull, now, he reminds himself. Not the Legendary Pokémon Darkrai, Ruler Over Darkness And Nightmares. Just. A simple. Duskull.

“Well, well,…” Koffing starts, “If it isn’t our friend, the big coward.”

Darkrai is _annoyed_. He has had it up to here, you know. He tried to remain friendly (for one measly moment). He really tried his best. Where do they even get all of these inaccurate insults from? He is no coward! He simply flees if he knows that he is overpowered, but how would they know that?

They have no way to know it, and therefore, they are using the insult in an inaccurate way. And Darkrai is very annoyed at that.

“Either you give it back to me right now or I will ski-,“ skin you alive, he wants to say, until he realizes that a _good_ Pokémon would definitely not say that. So instead, he continues with, “…skilfully beat you in an honest fight.”

There. That sounds honourable, even.

The two Pokémon look at each other, then, they start laughing.

“You think you could beat us, coward! Well, then try! If you win, we might even give you your stupid stone back,” Koffing laughs, and oh, _finally_ he has the permission to beat them senseless. The rules of the town obviously do not apply in Mystery Dungeons, and while he will not kill them… Well, a life of never-ending nightmares is even worse, in his opinion.

As he draws back to attack Koffing and Zubat with Dark Void, he suddenly realizes that as a normal Duskull, he should definitely not know this attack. Blast it. Instead, he goes for Double Team – after all, it is always good to be harder to be hit. In his opinion. And he is right, because… Because he is right.

Before either Koffing or Zubat can attack – and this is, of course, against the unwritten rules of fair battle, which generally say that you should only attack in turns, but Darkrai does not care – he goes for a Dark Pulse. Duskull can learn that attack, right? He hopes so. Once he is finished with these two oafs, he will have to inconspicuously ask Dareios about all attacks they can learn and then adjust his moveset accordingly.

Honestly, normally he would just go for a Dark Void and let his ability do the rest, but…

Darkrai being the only Pokémon who knows that attack it might not be wise to do so under the guise of a Duskull.

It does not matter, anyway, because Dark Pulse makes Koffing and Zubat faint immediately.

Oh. He still has his almost-normal amount of power, meaning he is much stronger than they could ever dream to be. He somewhat forgot.

Well, bad for them, good for him.

The two enemies groan in pain, and after groaning for an embarrassingly long time, finally manage to stand up. Darkrai does not stop them in their tries – it is much funnier to simply watch them stumble around disoriented. Pearl also does nothing – probably not sure how to react to all of this.

The two other Pokémon then stare at him, seemingly kind of frightened. After all, to be taken out by a single attack – it is sure to show them who the stronger one is.

_(Tremble before me, foolish Pokémon!)_

“Bah! Here you go, take it then!” Zubat spats out, throwing the Relic Fragment before Darkrai, “Just leave us alone!”

“And don’t think that you’re so awesome! Your victory was just a fluke!” Koffing adds, but before Darkrai can show them a second time how much of a ‘fluke’ it was, they have already run- uh, flown away. Floated away.

He takes the Relic Fragment and fastens it unto the rope around his neck- no wait, he does not have a visible neck as a Duskull – around his body. Then, he turns to Pearl. Is now the moment to thank her?

He would rather not. He hates thanking other Pokémon. But it is what _good_ Pokémon do, and he is obviously a very nice and good Pokémon.

… Best just to phrase it so it does not sound like he is thanking her but so that it could, possibly, be interpreted as such.

“Without you, I…” _Would have beat them up all the same_ , he does not say, and instead he lies and claims that, “I would not have managed to get it back so fast.”

“Uhm, you’re welcome? But you did really good against them on your own. I think. I wouldn’t know, I think that was my first real fight as a Pokémon? Against non-feral Pokémon. But anyways, I’m babbling, you did great!”

“I… was surprised myself,” Not a lie, necessarily. He misjudged his strength, after all. He should have known that he is still the most powerful Pokémon around. At least against ordinary Pokémon. “Anyway, let us get out of here, alright?”

The Piplup nods, and they make their way back through the Dungeon.

Once they stand on the beach, the waves gently splashing and the sun now not only touching the sea, but also having disappeared half into it already, Darkrai starts to fidget with the Relic Fragment. He is not nervous, of course not! He just… does not know how to proceed. Should he invite the once-human to his own home? Should he tell her to join the-

The guild!

They should join the guild together! After all, Pearl and the original partner were members before, this, he remembers clearly. If he plans to replay history as close to the original timeline as possible, he will need to do it, too.

… Not that he truly wants to join the guild or any guild at all, but it does not seem like he can really choose here. Everything to keep his plans working.

Well, that only raises the question of how to get Pearl to agree to joining the guild.

“You… uh, you fought good,” he says. Wonderful. Not awkward at all. It really shows that he is the most cunning Pokémon to ever live, being able to come up with a sentence like that.

“Thank you,” she answers, a light smile on her face. Wait, how can she even smile with her beak? That does not make any sense! But now that he thinks about it, neither does him having legs that only exist when he stands or sits, so who cares?

“So… Do you have a place to go to or stay? Or maybe an idea on how to become a human again?”

Pah, as if that was possible at all. Even if it was, he would make sure to ruin any way for her to regain her original form- Simply because it would _break_ her to know that there was a way, only for it to be denied.

Anyways, conversation.

“I… I don’t know. I don’t remember anything…” The smile falters and is replaced with desperation.

( _Yes, be sad! That is part of his revenge, making her feel sad!_ )

“Well, if you do not know where to go… As I said, you fight well,” he starts and really? Is he really going to use the same dumb compliment _again_? His persuasiveness really needs some brushing up, it seems.

“Might I offer you,” he therefore continues, “I mean, would you be willing… to form an exploration team with me?” He is going to wash out his mouth after saying this. He _never even_ wanted to form one! Never!

Pearl stares at him, and then, a smile appears just as fast as it disappeared before. “I would like that!”

Seems like the stories he told while in the Dungeon paid off.

“Great,” he answers, trying to sound as enthusiastic as he can. He is really not looking forward to joining the Wigglytuff Guild. And not only because he _hates_ Chatot. But he would do anything to ensure that his plans work, so off to the guild they are.

After some trouble because of Diglett not being able to properly recognize a Piplup’s footprint – come on, if it was him standing there, undisguised, he would understand if the ground type had some problems, but a Piplup? They are not common, but they are not uncommon either! So, after that trouble, they _finally_ enter the guild, properly recognized.

Thinking about it, Diglett actually had problems recognizing Darkrai -as-a-floating-Duskull’s-footprint when he came here in the first place. Maybe he is just a worse sentry than anyone has yet come to realize.

Then, there is Chatot again, and if Darkrai had not had the chance before to beat up some idiots… he may have tried to strangle Chatot instead. As it is, they are led before Wigglytuff, who stares at them for an uncomfortably long time before asking for the name of their team.

_(Does he know something he should not know? That cannot be, Darkrai made sure never to slip up!)_

He leaves the naming business to Pearl – for one, she needs to feel appreciated and secondly, he is… he is not good with names, as ‘Darcy’ has proven. If he read up on it, he would surely become brilliant very fast, but as it is, he has not done so and therefore… his naming skills are sub-par. Although it _would_ be kind of funny to call themselves something like ‘Team I’m-Actually-Darkrai-and-she’s-actually-a-human’. Then again, that is much too long. Team Iadasaah? Team Haasadai?

“Team Sky,” Pearl decides beside him, and admittedly, that is much better, to be honest. Rather cliché, but still acceptable.

“Congratulations! From now on, you’re an official exploration team!” Wigglytuff shouts, and ugh, his poor, non-visible ears! Then, the Pokémon continues with an explanation of what they get, what those things do, yadda yadda.

Sure, ‘Darcy the Duskull’ doesn’t know anything about any of that. Darkrai the Legendary? He probably, no, _definitely_ , knows more than Wigglytuff. He therefore does not truly listen. Even if there was something he did not know, he would be able to figure it out in a matter of minutes.

After that, they get a room, and finally, the two of them get the chance to just fall asleep.

“Hey Darcy, this may be a stupid question, but…” Pearl’s voice rouses him out of his state of I-was-almost-asleep-you-nitwit, “Do you know _why_ the Pokémon have been getting aggressive? And why there are more natural disasters?”

Well, yes, actually, he does. But saying, ‘Yeah, it’s pretty much my fault,’ that would not be very smart, now would it? Instead, he tries to shrug his shoulders, only to then realize that, well, Duskull do not really have shoulders.

It is almost the same as the numerous times he posed as Cresselia – he tried to shrug _so_ often, only to realize that… without proper shoulders, it is kind of hard to do so. Instead, he always had to do the head-movement she does instead (which looks really quite stupid).

_(Just another thing proving that he is better than that meddling, overgrown, ugly knock-off-Swanna! He has shoulders, after all, take that, Cresselia!)_

So instead of shrugging his non-visible shoulders, he just raises his arms in a gesture that means the same.

“I think it has something to do with how the flow of time has been getting corrupted in the last few weeks. Or, like most other Pokémon put it, messed up.” That is what all the Pokémon in the town say, anyway. And hey, they _are_ kind of right.

“What… What does that mean? How can… the flow of time get messed up?”

_Oh, you just need to sabotage Temporal Tower a little, it’s not that hard_ , he does not say. Instead, he shrugs his arms again, and says, “No one truly knows. I do believe that it might have to do with Dialga or his Time Gears, though.” Admitting that much should be no problem – after all, it is so simple, she could have probably put one and one together, herself.

“Oh… Well, maybe, we’ll find everything out, like, properly and then we’ll be able to help everyone!”

“Yes, that sounds,” counterproductive, “…great. But let us go to sleep now, alright?”

“Yeah, okay! Good night, Darcy!”

“Sleep well… Pearl.”

And finally, the day ends and Darkrai lets himself be embraced by a cruel sleep, wrecked with nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed the read!  
> The next chapter will be posted on January 13th, so until then, I wish you pleasant days!


	3. Welcome to the Exploitation Guild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter: Having finally met the once-human going by the name of Pearl, Darkrai and the now-Piplup went into their first Mystery Dungeon together, to retrieve the Relic Fragment (somewhat) belonging to Darkrai. After knocking Koffing and Zubat, the thieves of the Fragment, out, they travelled back to the outside, where Darkrai asked Pearl if she would want to make an Exploration Team with him. She accepted the proposal, and at the evening of the same day, the two became the newest recruits of the guild.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am i still salty about the guild taking 90% of my money? of course not. i would never be. you must mistake my emotions. i love having my money taken away. really.

The next day starts… Not as harsh as Darkrai expected it to do. Honestly, with the way all the Pokémon in Trash Town behave, he had expected that Chatot or maybe one of the other Pokémon of the Exploration Guild would wake them up, very loudly. After all, the guild has a Loudred as one of its residents – a Loudred which he could often clearly hear even when they were hundreds of metres apart.

Yes, that loud.

Instead, a tired voice simmers into his consciousness, half shouting but mostly just speaking, “Hey, wake up, you guys. Up and at ‘em…”

He opens his eye and stares at… a Loudred. _The_ Loudred. Is it not supposed to be… loud? So why is it-, _he_ so quiet, now?

“Get in gear, alright? Wigglytuff will get angry if you don’t…” He yawns and then trots off, dragging his feet over the ground.

“Uhm… Well. That was a rather nice wake-up call,” Darkrai states, thoroughly stretching himself. He feels good, great even. Seems like beating some idiots up and finally getting his plan started was the best thing that could happen to him. After he feels completely warmed up, he asks, “Are you awake already, Hum-, Pearl?” There, he is even using her name to show how familiar they already are.

At first, there is only silence, and then, finally, accompanied by a sluggish movement, she groans out “Yeah, yeah, ‘m getting’ ready…” She slowly pushes herself up from the straw-nest that are their beds. Personally, he prefers proper mats, but he has slept in worse places, so he will take it.

Although it _did_ leave an awful amount of wayward straw in his hair, which he will have to pick out when no one can notice it. Which is bothersome. Really, really bothersome.

He looks at Pearl again, who finally manged to stand up. She still seem tired, just like the Loudred before. Maybe she is a late riser? Best to remember for the future.

But since she makes the effort to stay upright, he decides not to mention it, and instead, as they make their way over to where he can see the other Pokémon standing, asks, “Are you quite alright?”

That is what a good friend would do, after all. He thinks. He has never truly been anyone’s friend. If he was completely honest with himself, he is just imitating what he has seen others doing. Which is just fitting, because he doesn’t plan on being anyone’s friend, anyway! So if he has to imitate to get it right, he would rather do that than truly become anyone’s ‘friend’.

“Yeah…” she slowly nods, “Just a little tired…” And then she yawns, as was to be expected.

Maybe she did not sleep well, nerves getting to her. Maybe she just could not fall asleep because of everything that happened to her. That would make some sense. But as they step to out and he sees the other Pokémon, Darkrai realizes that… they all seem tired.

And suddenly, he realizes.

He… completely forgot about his Bad Dreams Ability!

It should not seem possible but… really, he did! It has been so long since he affected anyone with it, after all.

He had been sleeping outside of the town, and thus, his ability, weakened by the illusion he had to keep active the whole time, simply did not reach anyone else. But now that he slept in the guild, he must have been close enough to other Pokémon that it affected them.

Which would explain why everyone seems so tired, _and_ why tonight’s sleep was so restorative for him.

Huh. That is _almost_ a perfect revenge. And the members of the guild won’t even be able to pin it on him, because he has nightmares, too! He just adjusted to them a long time ago, so that he barely notices that lack of sleep he gets every night.

(Cresselia only has great dreams every night. He somewhat, no, really hates her for it _._ )

“Everyone seems present…” Chatot croaks, sounding not as chipper as he did yesterday.

_(Yes, feel my revenge!)_

Then, Chatot yawns for quite some time and finally, continues, “Well, if everyone is here, we can conduct our morning address.” Turning to the door behind him, he shouts, “Guildmaster! The guild is in full attendance!”

Darkrai is honestly surprised by how loud the Pokémon still manages to be. Normally, Pokémon that had to try and sleep through his nightmares for a full night are more like… everyone else standing around him. Barely noticing what is happening due to overtiredness, not fully awake yet.

Well, if they want sleep without nightmares, they should not have confronted Darkrai. Will confront Darkrai. Will have sent Pearl and her real friend and Cresselia to have confronted him. Whatever.

And then, the door opens, and Wigglytuff steps out, coming to a halt in front of them. His eyes are open, and just when Darkrai thinks that he is about to say something, he… snores.

What. That is… Is he still asleep? No, that is not possible, is it? Unless he knew Sleep Talk, but even then, still moving around, almost acting like he is awake… no, that does not make any sense! Besides, he is seemingly sleeping peacefully, and that is not possible within Darkrai’s vicinity! And his eyes are open!

Nothing else happens. The Guildmaster is really, truly asleep, it seems. Which… no. He must be acting, Darkrai decides. For what reason, he really does not know. Maybe he takes some kind of… _substances_. His behaviour _does_ seem more logical with that explanation.

Chatot, not knowing of Darkrai’s contemplation (how should he), simply harrumphs, as no answer beside the snoring comes, and then just states that they should, “Take our Guildmaster’s words to heart.”

… What words?

But honestly, after what follows Darkrai would rather have to go back to figuring out what words were spoken. Instead, some kind of horribly cheesy ‘morning cheer’ is recited. Even Pearl turns around and looks at him, as if to ask, ‘Is this normal?’

He just shrugs his arms. Honestly, it probably is. He still does not know and doesn’t really want to be a part of it. Even the Pokémon around him, who recite it dutifully, seem to only think about getting some more sleep.

“One! Don’t shirk work!”

There go his plans for today.

“Two! Run away and pay!”

And his plans for tomorrow.

“Three! Smiles go for miles!”

Now that is just excluding Pokémon like him, who cannot smile in ways that are visible for others.

Really, what kind of… rules are these? These are not real recommendations for the life of an explorer! They do not construct a real framework for which to work in, they do not give any tips young explorers might need! Their wording is just… ‘Be a good Pokémon’, really, in more words than necessary and with no explanation as to what being a good Pokémon _actually_ entails.

How should _he_ know what is considered good, huh? What if _his_ definition of being good entails not smiling, running away and shirking work? Ugh, he should not think about this, to be entirely honest. These rules were made by Pokémon far beneath him, and as such, they would obviously not seem logical to him.

“Okay, Pokémon!” Chatot cries, seemingly more awake now after having to hear this awful noise, “Get to work!”

And everyone is off, most dragging their feet or similar appendages behind them. Well, almost everyone – Darkrai and Pearl, being considered new recruits, obviously have to stay behind. Sure, they try to move away on their own, but get called back immediately.

Then, they are led up one story to the Job Bulletin Board, and are explained its use. So much unnecessary information – Darkrai makes sure to immediately forget it. Instead, he stares around the room, trying to remember it for future reference. It is covered in grass and the occasional flowers (not unlike his local residence – after trying to get rid of the grass at first, in the end, he decided that really, it was a losing battle and he could spend his time in better ways), as well as vines and even two bushes. They _are_ still beneath the earth, are they not? But there are big windows strewn around the room, which might explain why these plants managed to not only survive, but also thrive.

The most important things, of course, are the two wooden job boards, which appear to be nailed unto the walls rather roughly. Did they not have any Pokémon on hand who could do a better job at it? There is a Timburr living in Trash Town, Darkrai knows for a fact. Who know, maybe she even built those boards. Being a Timburr does not necessarily mean she might be naturally good at building things.

Chatot harrumphing loudly draws Darkrai out of his thoughts. “A-hem! You are listening, are you not, Duskull?”

“Of course I am,” he answers, keeping his voice completely calm, “My face might, however, not be able to reflect that clearly.” Like this, Chatot cannot call him out on what he was actually doing without being considered incredibly rude. Hah, take that, bothersome bird. Darkrai is still a masterful manipulator of words.

“Just making sure! Anyways, as I pointed out, most of the jobs on our boards are situated within Mystery Dungeon. Now, Mystery Dungeons do not work like—"

Darkrai interrupts. “We already know how they work.”

“You do?” The bird cocks his head to the right, then to the left, then to the right again.

“Yeah! Darcy explained all about them to me yesterday, while we were in the… what did you say it’s name was? Beach Cave?”

Darkrai nods.

“Yeah, so the Beach Cave! So we’ve actually already been in one!” Pearl ends, and her words seem to finally make Chatot decide to believe their words.

“Well, that makes things much easier for me to explain!” he chirps, fluttering his wings obnoxiously.

“Great,” Darkrai forces out, not in the least thinking this word to be the truth.

“However, do note that now that you are part of the guild, you cannot go into Dungeons whenever you want! Some are very dangerous, and as such, each of your daily assignments will first have to be approved by either me or the Guildmaster!”

… Wonderful. Just wonderful. Darkrai was _around_ when Mystery Dungeon first came into existence, but leave it to this bird to think himself important enough to deny Darkrai to enter whichever Dungeon he wants.

Sometimes, he really hates the plan he came up with.

“So, for today I would assign the two of you _this_ job!” With these words, Chatot hands over a piece of paper to Pearl. Excuse him? Did Chatot just assume that the _Piplup_ is the leader of their little group.

With a huff, he decides not to say anything. Instead, he looks at the paper.

“Hello! My name is Spoink!” it reads, and what a horrible beginning. Makes him want to throw up. “An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession. My precious pearl!”, yadda yadda. So it continues. Apparently, the pearl – the object, not the person – somehow ended up in a Mystery Dungeon known as ‘Drenched Bluff’. Well. It could be worse. Darkrai has already gone there a few times.

But still… a fetch quest? Really? Darkrai barely holds back from telling Chatot, where, exactly, he can stuff his stupid fetch quests. He is a simple Duskull, now, he reminds himself almost like a mantra, a simple Duskull that always wanted to become an explorer. _Of course_ he will do simple jobs. Because he _so_ loves helping other Pokémon.

(Huh, it is kind of funny that Pearl’s first job is to retrieve a pearl.)

After a few more warnings, which he tunes out, they are finally allowed to leave. Wonderful. They guild is already grating on his nerves, and it has not even been a day.

“So, uh… what exactly are we going to do?” Pearl asks as they wander along the path that will lead them to the Drenched Bluff. It’s not much more than a walk of about fifteen minutes, of which ten have already passed in silence. Well, almost. Pearl was humming at first, but he told her off, and since then, there has been silence.

Uncomfortable silence, some would say, to which Darkrai would answer that no silence is uncomfortable if you do not care about the emotions of those around you. So, from his point of view, it is a very comfortable silence.

Which has just been broken.

He sniffs, but finally deigns to answer, “… You have the paper. Read it.”

“Well, uh, first of all, I don’t, I put it in your bag while you weren’t looking.” First of all: What?! Secondly: Why, exactly, did it have to be him to carry the bag in the first place?

“Don’t get angry, it weighs pretty much nothing! And, uh, you don’t need to give it to me. Because I kinda, uh… I…” She scratches her head, which looks… well, nitty. It is a very human movement, of course, but she is no human, and thus, it simply looks off. She continues, “I don’t think I know whatever writing system it’s written in?”

Darkrai stops in his tracks to simply stare at her, deadpan. “Are you trying to tell me that you cannot read?”

“I can! I’m _sure_ I can. Just… not that particular script?”

“ _’That particular script_ ’ is footprint runes, the most common writing system in use in this century. The one before it, too.”

“Well, common for Pokémon or humans?” she says, a scowl appearing on her face. “I told you, I was a human!”

Hm. That… actually makes sense. Not that Darkrai is about to admit so out loud. “Then you should learn it as fast as possible. I will not read everything out to you.”

“Yeah, okay, you don’t need to or anything! But can you _please_ still tell me what we are supposed to do? I just… acted like I knew it so that Chatot wouldn’t get angry at me, but I would still like to know.”

Darkrai keeps from rolling his eye. Wonderful. Now he has to work as a communicator. Speaker? What, exactly, would the word for this be? Narrator? Anyways, to explain…

“We have to retrieve a pearl for a Spoink from Drenched Bluff. Which is where we are currently heading, and look, over there is the entrance.” And with that, he floats ahead, intent on _not_ making anymore small talk, or whatever this just now was.

The retrieval of the pearl is not complicated at all. He leaves the fighting mostly to Pearl, since she needs the experience – well, not really, because he does not want her to get too strong, but it would also be annoying to always have to save her, right? So he will let her get her training now, so he won’t have to care too much later.

And since he does not want her knocked out whenever she encounters a Pokémon that seems to strong, he chimes in with a Dark Pulse, which easily takes care of them. He still does not know which attacks he can legally use, unfortunately, but he thinks that Dark Pulse should be alright. If only he could remember more than four attacks at once, but alas, Arceus decided to not give him that possibility. One of many stupid decisions on the llama’s part.

In the Dungeon, at first, he tries not to speak – because, really, he hates her, so there is nothing to be gained from talking – but then he remembers that they have to become _incredibly good friends, the best of friends_. And thus, he starts asking question. He hates having to ask them– he has never enjoyed small talk, especially not with the hero who somehow managed to best him.

Still, everything to one day get the sweetest possible revenge.

However, it proves rather… exhausting to ask an amnesiac questions about themselves.

“So… What is your favourite colour?” he tries. That is a question he has heard rather often when other Pokémon get to know each other. That means it should be useable.

Pearl seems to think, and then, very sadly, answers, “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” he says, and not knowing what else to say, he adds, “Mine is black.” He does not have a favourite colour, of course, but if he had to choose anything, it would be black.

“Black? That’s… rather depressing, isn’t it?”

Depressing? Black, depressing? As if! It is the greatest colour!

“It is not-,” he defends the greatest colour, “Depressing. It is… elegant. And calming. Anyways. What is your favourite food?”

(That is also a question he has heard numerous times)

Pearl thinks, then sighs. “I don’t know.”

Ah yes. She is amnesiac.

“Well, then… What did you like best about Trash-, Treasure Town?”

That gets her interest.

“Treasure Town?”

Suddenly he realizes that, right, she has not been there, yet! Perfect, that is a chance to bond with her! Not that he _wants_ to bond. No, the bonding will be entirely one-sided. Still, he has to use every chance he gets, lest she choose another Pokémon to be her best friend.

Like… Chatot. A shiver wrecks his body at the mere thought of it.

“It is the town right outside of the guild,” he therefore explains, “But you have probably not been there before, else I would have most likely seen you before finding you.”

“You would’ve? Did you live there- no, actually, what did you do before I met you?” Suddenly, she sounds very chipper. She even seems to be rocking on the tips of her… feet? Talons? Is that the right word? Could she even rock on them while they are moving? Do springy steps count as rocking if one does it in… two directions?

Ugh, he is getting a headache and she is still talking, so he has to concentrate on that. “You’ve like, got your memories, right? What am I saying, of course you have them! So you had a life before yesterday! What was it like? You said there’s a town, you lived there, right? What did you do? Do Pokémon have like, jobs, besides being explorers? Did you have a job? What was it? And what other Pokémon are in the town, are there humans, too, and-”

“Stop!” he cries out, panicking. Those are too many questions at once, he is feeling overwhelmed! Besides, those are _private_ questions, the worst kind of questions to be asked!

He takes a deep, calming breath for his rapidly beating heart. He does not need to answer the questions truthfully, after all. No need to get worked up.

“Too many questions at once,” he explains.

“Oh,” Pearl breaths out, staring at her feet for a few seconds and then starting to fiddle with her hands, “I’m sorry, I just got… excited. So, one question at a time?”

“One question at a time,” he confirms.

She seems to think, as just before she speaks, she makes a small nod – probably deciding on the question. “Alright, so, did you live there before?”

“I did,” he answers, and then, feeling generous, decides to add, “My cousin – he is the resident banker - lived there before me, I mostly helped him out. Perhaps, after we find the pearl and bring it back, I can show the town to you, if you so want?”

She perks up at that. “You’d do that?”

“Of course. We are friends, after all,” he claims, the words leaving a disgusting taste in his mouth.

… Now that he thinks about it, where do Duskull even have their mouths? Is it hidden under the mask? He has never seen Dareios eat before, now that he thinks about it. Mysterious.

“Okay, so next question! Where…”

As Pearl starts into her interrogation, the passing of time seems to slow down. He hates being asked any personal questions, even if the answers are mostly made up. Darkrai wishes the day was over already.

Once they return to the guild and return the pearl to Spoink, there is a rather nasty surprise.

“Now hand that money over, if you please!” Chatot, who had been waiting for them to officially finish the job from the sidelines now flutters over and chirps these words as if they are… well, not whatever they are supposed to be.

“Excuse you?” Darkrai asks back, gobsmacked, and next to him Pearl seems equally shocked. It doesn’t stop her from handing over the money as if on instinct, though. She is such a benighted creature.

“Most of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster, you see! And the Guild, of course!”

What.

“And your team’s share of the money comes out to this much…!” Chatot hands 200 Poké back over to Pearl.

What?! They were paid _2000_ by Spoink! This is--

“Excuse you?!” Darkrai repeats, a lot more force behind his words now.

But Chatot simply chirps, “That’s the guild’s rule. You simply have to accept it!”

“But-, That is a share of 90%! That is too much!” he forces out, really not happy with all of this.

“Well, considering that the money goes towards paying for board and lodging, as well as training you to be proper explorers and taking care of any and all medical attention you may need, I do believe it quite fair,” the stupid bird answers and Darkrai cannot help but sputter at the _sheer gall_.

“Even if you count all of that, it would not come out as 90%! The-, my cousin at the bank does not take an interest of that much!” he objects, not really knowing exceedingly much about the inner workings of guilds and how much money one would need for it, but this amount just _must_ be too much.

“Well, your cousin also does not do all of the things the guild does for you, for his clients, now does he? I assure you, the guild has calculated it very carefully and this is what we’ve decided on after taking _everything into account_. Now, you can either take your share or also _donate_ it to the guild.” The threat in the cursed Chatot’s words is clear.

 _Take what I offer you or get nothing_ , is what remains unsaid and this once, just this once, Darkrai very unhappily has to accept defeat. He huffs and averts his gaze, the walls suddenly seeming much more interesting. They are very… uh… walls. They are walls.

Just the bedlamite bird wait. Once Darkrai takes his revenge, he might just decide to pluck out all of his feathers, one by one, while the other is fully conscious. And then, once that is done, give him a nightmare which just repeats the scenario, forever and ever.

After the bird skips away with 90% of _their_ money, Darkrai finally shares what must be a rather defeated look with Pearl – who seems to feel similar about the topic.

“I actually did not know that they take that much money,” he admits.

“Well…” She seems to think, “I mean, we do live here now, and they are… kind of training us. And where else could we go?”

Darkrai scoffs, “If training means just being left to our own devices, I guess.”

“Yeah… But I mean, we also got breakfast. Like Chatot implied, that has to cost something.”

“But not that much! This is-, it is… a _capitalistic scheme!_ ” he fusses, “And if I felt that I had to eat something, we could just find some apples or berries in the next best Dungeon!”

Pearl sighs. “Yeah, that’s true. But…” She trails of, unsure.

“But?”

“Uh… would you still show me the town?” She smiles shyly.

Oh yeah, he promised her that, did he not? He might as well, Dareios will probably also want to know that he _finally_ joined the guild. Not that he really cares for Dareios. He does not. But for his cover not to be blown, he needs to act as if he does, and that means telling the other about how he is faring.

“… Of course. We might not have much money to spend, but…” he trails off, unsure where he was going with that.

“Thank you!” Pearl simply interrupts, once again shooting him a big grin.

However, Chatot once again ruins their plans. Just before they are able to leave the guild, the bird flies in front of them.

“What are _you two_ planning to do?”

“Darcy wanted to show me the town, Mr. Chatot.”

“Oh. Well. Sorry, but you can’t go out now. And you don’t need to call me Mister, after all, we’re a big family now!”

A family that takes all of the others hard earned money for selfish reasons— Well, alright, that actually sounds like the ‘family’ Darkrai has known before. Cresselia is an absolute _menace_ when it comes to accounting. And not in a good way.

But that is beside the topic. The topic at the time being the question if this bird truly wants to be killed _so much_? Because Darkrai is only _barely holding back from doing so right now_.

“Why… can we not go out?” Darkai forces out instead of killing anyone, trying his best to not sound _too_ murderous. A little bit of his intent might have still slipped through, considering the way Chatot eyes him.

“Because dinner will be served soon, Duskull! And aren’t you a little tired?”

“I am not.” He somewhat is, but he is not going to admit that.

Chatot stares. Darkrai stares right back. He can do this the whole day, Duskull don’t have eyelids, after all, so get ready to lose, stupid bird.

The clearing of a throat makes the two of them jump in surprise and lose eye contact.

He did not lose! The bird looked away first!

“Uh… actually, I am a little tired. Let’s just stay here, for now, alright?” Is this Pearl’s attempt at keeping the peace? It must be. Well. Only this once will he allow it to work.

“Alright. But I _will_ show you the town another time.”

Pearl laughs. “Thank you.”

Then, they make their way down to the lowest level, where dinner will be taking place in a dining hall – well, to call it that might be a euphemism. It is simply a room with a few planks laid on top of wooden stilts – a mockery of a table, if anything. And are they simply supposed to drink from the spring within the room just… like this? Because Darkrai does not see any cups. Not that most Pokémon use cups.

Still, the ones with manners (and hands) do.

Once all of the guild’s members have filtered in and gathered around the ‘table’, they start to eat. Well. Seems like there really won’t be any cups. At least the have plates. Small mercies.

And as was to be expected, dinner is a messy affair. Obviously, Darkrai expected that – the Pokémon making up the guild are nuisances at best and imbeciles at worst. Even Pearl starts eating like one of those… one of those _beasts_!

Darkrai is the only one with manners around here, it seems.

“Use your hands,” he scolds. She looks at him confused.

“I… Everyone else is…?”

“Well, you are not everyone else, are you?” he chastises.

Pearl averts her gaze, mumbling, “I thought it’s just how Pokémon do it…” but does try to eat in a much more… composed way.

He will accept the attempt. For now.

At least this night, Pearl does not try talking to him too much – a few unnecessary questions about his life in Treasure Town, for which he makes the answers up on the go – but the second her head hits the hay, she is fast asleep.

Huh. Maybe she really was tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes the second chapter! The next one will be uploaded on the Kalends of February, meaning, the 01.02.2021.
> 
> I've had the headcanon that Darkrai not only makes others have nightmares but himself as well for some time now and decided to add it to the story. I mean, it would definitely explain his continuous bad mood and the dark rings under his eyes (although those could also be kajal. who knows). I do think that for the story and what is to come, it works.
> 
> Secondly, regarding Pokémon and pronouns - and if that isn't a can of worms. I have decided that there are four common ways to refer to Pokémon, those being:  
> "he" - if the Pokémon identifies as male  
> "she" - if the Pokémon identifies as female  
> "they" - if the Pokémon identifies as both, neither, or anything in between  
> and finally,  
> "it" - now this one is somewhat complicated, but as I write this story, "it" is not used in a negative way. Instead, it describes a Pokémon which has:  
> a) not yet been identified as any of the other pronouns  
> b) not reached an age to identify itself as any of the other pronouns  
> c) not shown itself willing to be identified as anything (feral Pokémon would fall in that category, more often than not)  
> or  
> d) any other reasons to not be identified with any of the other pronouns  
> I do understand that, when used for people, "it" is not only rude but also wrong to be used, but since Pokémon ARE very often called "it" and I was somewhat missing a fourth pronoun for some aspects of the story, I decided on that. Hope I cleared up any possible future confusion.
> 
> With all of that out of the way, thank you so much for the kudos, comments and bookmark! Every time I'd check in with the story and see something had popped up I'd grin like a Cheshire cat. Still do simply thinking about it, in fact. So from the depth of my heart, thank you!


	4. Nightmares may induce Drowzee-ness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter: Having joined the guild, Pearl and Darkrai spent their first night there, which revealed to Darkrai that he now gives nightmares to everyone in the guild, something he relished in. The following day, Pearl and he were sent on their first assignment, which they finished successfully. Soon after, their first day came to its end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> help Darkrai’s bullying poor Bidoof who’s only trying to help and really does not deserve all of this

The next morning, they are woken up once again by the Loudred that isn’t very loud. Thank Arceus for the nightmares he gave it. It is still _too loud_ in his opinion, but they could have ended up with a worse Loudred. Probably.

Pearl gingerly rubs the sleepiness from her eyes – unfortunately for her, she still sports slight circles beneath them.

_(Yes, feel my wrath, stupid hero!)_

Still, he asks, “Did you sleep well?”, even going so far as to make it sound sincere. After all, Darcy-the-Duskull does not know if she did.

Even if it is obvious that she did not. So now, in his never-ending revenge, he will even force her to acknowledge that!

She groans. “Well enough.”

… It is obvious that the answer was not the truth, so why not admit it? She is not a _liar_! At least he thinks that she is not. It is not as if he knew her well before he decided to get rid of her.

And then she dares to turn to him and ask, “And you?”

“Well… I … I had a few nightmares,” he helplessly stutters out. Oh no. That was the truth! He was not supposed to admit that! He never tells the truth, unless he does, which is… when he decides to do so, but not merely because he could not think of a better answer fast enough!

“Ah, me too, actually,” she answers with a small, tired smile, “But I guess it could be worse.”

Darkrai scoffs. “If worse means reciting the stupid morning cheer, you are probably in for a bad surprise.” Why did he ever think joining the guild was a good idea, even for a plan of revenge?

And then-, Then she actually dares to laugh! As if she finds his cynical humour… funny! Now she is just making fun of him, he knows it! Well, if she wants to play by those rules, he will play by them, too!

… Once he has figured out what they actually are.

They make their way over to the hall of the guild with no more words, and yes, the morning cheer does indeed happen again. As well as the ‘words’ by their ‘Guildmaster’ (just snoring, again). Darkrai really hopes that this does not happen every day, because it is clear to him that Wigglytuff is just acting, for whatever reason. If it happens thrice… Well, he would probably not do anything, as to not blow his cover, but he would be very annoyed.

Just as he is annoyed as he has to recite the tenets like everyone else. He only acts as if he is doing so, of course, and the other Pokémon are not fully at it, either – probably still influenced by the nightmares they had.

_(Yes! Suffer!)_

He cannot even remember how the chant went. Make someone pay? Shirk work? He does not care.

As soon as it is finished, he decides to move up to the job board – he is part of the guild now, if he likes it or not (he does not), so he needs to act like a normal member.

But instead of simply allowing him to do so, he and Pearl are once again intercepted by Chatot, who then explains to them the other board – this one showing outlaws. Darkrai tunes out the bird’s words, not caring for them, and instead searches the board for his own face. He keeps back a sigh of relief when he does not find it there. That is good. It means they really do not know about him.

Not that they have a reason to. Excluding the sabotaging of Temporal Tower, which his past self has most definitely already done in this time, his last ‘bad’ deed that was noticed by more than just Cresselia… must be over 300 years in the past now. Long enough for new generations of Pokémon to come and go, forgetting that he ever did anything in the first place.

Except for particularly long-lived ones, like Ninetales, and, of course, Legendaries. They have definitely not forgotten it, although a few have perhaps decided to forgive him by now. Nitwits. Although nitwits he is willing to tolerate as long as they do not attack him on sight. Like… others.

He looks at the board again. There, that seems like a promising job – and there is a bounty of 7000 Poké on the outlaw’s head, which means that Darkrai will be left with 700 in the end, correct?

“Now, of course we can’t let you take any of the hard jobs, yet – for now, you will be sticking to the lowest rank!”

“I am perfectly capable of taking on strong enemies,” Darkrai claims, knowing that, if they turn out _too_ strong, he will absolutely abandon whatever mission he has. He is not a coward, of course – unlike someone who goes by a name starting with C- and ending with -resselia likes to claim – he just knows when he is outmatched. So what if he flees if he finds himself being on the losing side? No fight is worth losing his life over.

“Sure, sure. That’s what all of our recruits said at first, but after too many injuries, we decided not to believe them anymore!” Chatot crows, his eyes narrowed. Darkrai can feel his own eye narrowing in turn.

This thrice-cursed Chatot… He cannot wait until it is time to take his revenge.

“Anyways, before we choose a job for you, I think I will have someone give you a tour of the facilities.”

Great. He knows where his bed is, he knows where he can get food, so why insist on showing him anything else? So what if the building has three floors, filled with useless Pokémon and even more useless facilities? He does not care! At all! Once he has created a dark world to his liking, the guild will be destroyed, anyways.

And even worse, Chatot chooses a Bidoof to show them around! A _Bidoof_! A Bidoof who acts like a crybaby just because it now isn’t considered the rookie anymore! Maybe Darkrai should just give up on this plan. He might have thought before that Trash Town was bad, but this-this _Exploitation Guild_ is even worse!

He does not say anything and instead just follows Bidoof and Pearl through the guild, once again not listening to a word that is being said. Pearl, at least, seems to enjoy it. Wait no, Pearl should not enjoy it, it is no proper revenge if she is just happy! But she also needs to trust him, and to trust him, he needs to do things that make her happy… he guesses.

Ugh, being a good guy is _bothersome_.

But he endures the full tour of the guild, up until the moment when Bidoof moves to show them Trash Town.

“I do apologize,” he says, having crept up unnoticed behind Bidoof. The Pokémon cries out in shock, and Darkrai cannot help but snicker (Curse you, Dareios!). Small revenges are great. “But I already know the town.”

“Wait, you do?” Bidoof sounds surprised.

“Yes. I have been living here for the past few years.” In fact, he saw Bidoof a few times during the last weeks, but chose not to engage with the idiotic imbecile.

“You have??” Now, he sounds almost panicked.

“… Yes. I have. I work at the bank, sometimes.”

“Golly… I don’t think we ever really properly met, I’m so, so sorry! And like this, I probably can’t show you anything new…”

“Exactly.” Darkrai throws Bidoof a frost gaze, intent to make him turn tail and flee.

“Uh… I just, uhm… _came_ here yesterday and don’t know the town yet?” Pearl pipes up, and what a traitor she is. Truly despicable.

“I already promised to show it to you,” he interrupts whatever Bidoof was going to answer. Having been shown the guild was annoying enough.

“Well… both of you could show it to me?” Pearl suggests, “This way, I’ll definitely learn everything about it that I can!”

… There may just be a good schemer hidden within her, seeing how she is trying to influence both of them simultaneously.

Darkrai just wants to ask, ‘Why do you want this babbling Bidoof to show it to you?’ but decides that… whatever. He will let her manipulate him this once, if only because he would like to see where these little schemes will bring her. So he simply harrumphs and crosses his arms, as he and Pearl follow Bidoof outside and towards Trash Town.

It is then that Pearl lets herself fall back a little, and whispers, “Hey, it’s not personal, okay? He just seems so happy to be able to show us the town, I didn’t want to make him sad.”

Darkrai looks in a different direction and acts as if he did not hear her.

“Hey, don’t be offended. I know that you are still the much better guide!”

“Indeed, I am,” he huffs. It is smart of her to acknowledge that.

As he puts his hands behind his back again, he can see her failing to suppress a smile. He lets it slide, just this once. Only because she told him that he is the best guide around.

It is a sunny day (as it almost always is, during summer), and Darkrai hates it. Rainy days, he can deal with. Cloudy days, he might almost like. But sunny days? They hurt his eyes and just remind him that instead of sleeping, he has to act as if being awake when the sun is out is acceptable to him.

He cannot wait for his world of darkness.

And of course, since the Duskull Bank is situated only a very short way away from the Guild – the closest shop, in fact, the only buildings closer are a few houses and tents – they do not even manage to get to the main square before Dareios notices them. Which means _social interaction_.

“Darrrcy!” Dareios calls out to Darkrai, rolling the “R” as he sometimes does. Darkrai is actually not sure why or when he does it – he only does so sometimes when he says the name ‘Darcy’. It is rather strange.

“Good evening, Cousin Dareios,” he answers, proper. Best to clear up who Dareios is to him for Pearl before she has to ask.

“Wait, you are cousins??” Ah, yes, Bidoof is still here, too. How annoying.

“Indeed we are, young Bidoof,” Dareios answers, before Darkrai has the chance for a more scathing remark, and then the banker turns towards Pearl. “Who is the little lady beside you? And where have you been, Darcy? I didn’t see you at all since ere-yesterday morning, what a sorrow.” He snickers.

“Uh, I’m Pearl, nice to meet you!” Pearl answers before Darkrai even has the chance to explain anything.

Being interrupted before starting to speak is annoying.

In the short pause after her introduction, Darkrai hurries to clear any possible questions up. “She is my new partner – we are now an exploration team.”

“So you finally started on your plan,” another snicker, “didn’t you?”

“My… plan?”

“To join the guild, of course.” And there it is, another snicker. Honestly, with mainly having this guy around for the last few years, is it a wonder that he started to snicker all the time, too?

“Ah. Yes. I did.” He wants this conversation to be over, already.

“You’ve been planning to join the guild for a longer time, Darcy?” Bidoof suddenly chimes in. Darkrai turns to him, not even trying to hold back from showing his murderous glare.

“It is _Duskull_ for you, _Bidoof_ ,” he hisses, and then continues, perfectly amicable but with a very noticeable note of iciness beneath it, “And yes. I have. Although I _do not_ see why it is of any interest to you.”

He sees the Pokémon visibly shrinking with each of his words. It is a great feeling, one he has missed since illusioning himself as a mere Duskull. To see that he is still able to instil fear in other Pokémon with mere words? It is exhilarating.

Dareios’ snicker eases the situation. “Always with that sharp tongue, cousin. Do take no offence by his words, Bidoof, he is simply a cactus that one day became a Duskull.”

“I am _not_.”

Pearl just looks confused by the situation.

Ah, yes. She was human before, she probably does not know about the system behind naming in their Pokémon-exclusive world. He might have to explain it to her, later.

“Anyhow, Pearl, Cousin Darcy, if you are now explorers, do you want to deposit some of your money with me? And what a sorrow, now that you have another job, I will have to face all the customers without your snarky comments, dear Cousin.”

Darkrai keeps from rolling his eye. “You are imagining things. I do not make _snarky comments_.”

“Simply _observations_ , yes, yes, you did tell me already.” Dareios snickers. “Anyways, will you want a shared account?”

Darkrai looks to Pearl, questioningly. She is holding unto his, well, _their_ , money for the moment. Not that it is much.

Darkrai does have a little more in his account, but he is not about to share it.

“Uh…” She looks to Darkrai, “You said that, if we were to be knocked out in a Dungeon, most of it will probably be stolen, right?”

“You are correct. But do you think we will ever faint?” Not with him on their side, definitely not. But with Darcy the Duskull? It might just happen.

“I…” Suddenly, she laughs.

What? What is so funny?

“Well, considering that you found me fainted on the beach, it might just be the smartest course of action to leave it with your cousin!”

“Oh… yes. That is… indeed true.” He really does not know what else to say.

“A smart decision! A new, shared account it is then. Your money will rest here in peace. Forever, if you wish.” And then, Dareios snickers. What a surprise.

After that, they finally continue to the main square, Bidoof now visibly more dejected looking than when they started. Good. He should be thankful they even allowed him to come with them. Darkrai lets him explain the various shops to them, since Pearl would probably like him less if he started bullying the smaller Pokémon.

… He could just try giving him especially nasty nightmares tonight, and no one will know. Yes. That sounds like a great way to get away with bullying.

Now that he thinks about it, he might just give Chatot a nightmare where it gets crushed by all the money it steals in the guild’s name. That sounds great, he’ll be sure to do that (If he can manage to, while still keeping the illusion active).

Unfortunately, ever since assuming his illusion, he has not been able to enter anyone’s dreams, the illusion being just too taxing on him. Nevermind, then. He will find other ways to take revenge. Maybe a prank is in order.

“… and that over there is Mrs Kangashkan’s Storage Service! It’s pretty much like the bank, but for items, yup yup! So, that’s the jobs you’ll definitely have to use as an explorer, the others are more like, places to spend your money on for other things. Like, if you need a new bag or if you want clothing or accessories and uh, yeah. That’s pretty much the town, I guess?” 

“You guess,” Darkrai repeats Bidoof’s redundant ending, making the Pokémon shrink.

“Uh, n-no, sir! I-I mean, yes! Sir! I mean, Duskull! Golly… I mean, uh, it’s the town! That it definitely is!”

Darkrai keeps from rolling his eye. This idiocy is physically painful. “Wonderful that we have established that. Is that the end of your little… tour?”

“Uh, I mean, Chatot did say that I should help you choose an outlaw? But I… I can wait at the guild? So that you can buy something or, uh, just look around? Yup yup… Not that you have to, since you know the town already, but you know, if you want…!” With each of his words, and Darkrai’s lack of any positive reinforcement, the Pokémon seems to grow even smaller.

“I’d like to see more of the town!” Pearl forces herself into the conversation. As long as she does not tell him off for how he treats Bidoof, he will allow her to do so.

“Great! Then I’ll see you at the guild, yeah? Yeah!” With that, Bidoof turns around somewhat hurriedly, and with a cry of, “Bye Pearl! Bye Duskull, Sir!” he runs off.

Good riddance.

And now that Bidoof is gone…

“Do you wish to go to some of the shops?” Darkrai asks, doing his best to sound friendly and not icy. It is a little hard, considering he is still annoyed by having had to spend time with Bidoof.

“Oh, yes, I’d really like too!” Pearl grins and skips of towards a random direction. With an eyeroll and a call of, “Here, if you please,” Darkrai stirs her to the Kangashkan Storage – after all, it would be rather stupid if they lost some of the items they had gathered the day before. Not that they have many, but enough to make the bag on Darkrai’s shoulder possess a noticeable weight.

Once they are there, Kangashkan congratulates him on having finally brought up the ‘courage’ to join the guild. Pah, as if. Besides, why does she act like they are friends? Just because he has seen her almost every day for the last five years does not make them friends in any way. Not even friendly acquaintances. Or acquaintances.

Alright, maybe it does make them acquaintances. But not friendly acquaintances.

Pearl, however, seems to hit it right of with Kangashkan, and although at first the two of them only talked about the storage system, by now, they are merely chatting. Darkrai lets his gaze wander.

Not a lot has changed during the last five years – maybe there are more flowers now (honestly, the entire town has a budding flower problem – pun half intended), but besides that? There are still the stands and shops built around the town square, and between and behind are houses, walls and wooden and lithic figures and what not. Boring, in one word.

Perhaps there are two shops more, by now, but really, all of them sell similar wares, so why should he care? There are the standard-stands, of course, and the rest is useless. Who needs trinkets, or accessories, or even scarfs and handkerchiefs? Not him.

Well, he might need some medical items, he decides. The three scars on his face, though not visible through the illusion, still hurt sometimes, as well as some other wounds he must have received in whatever took place that threw him through time – he has not forgotten, of course, just decided not to remember, yet – and perhaps, there is something being sold for it. Most prominently his back. That is really aching today. Probably because of Koffing and Zubat running into him ere-yesterday.

Looking at Pearl and seeing her still talking animatedly with Kangashkan, he makes his way over the little brook and towards the stall Chansey and her daughter, Blissey, share. While Chansey generally focuses more on taking care of eggs, her daughter is something like the resident healer and pharmacist.

“Duskull, nice to see you!” Chansey calls out, and Blissey gives a wave. Darkrai merely nods in acknowledgement and musters the salves and potions laid out before them.

“Looking for something? You didn’t get hurt, did you?” Chansey asks, and Darkrai shakes his head.

“Nothing of the sort. However, I do have one or two old scars which sometimes act up, especially with more Dungeon exploring, and I was wondering if you might have something that could help with it.”

“Oh no, how unfortunate!” Chansey cries, and Blissey asks, “Might I see them? I do have some salves in mind – I would have to mix them, mind you – but it really depends on the type of injury that lead to the scarring. And do they only hurt when exploring – which is physical exhaustion - or, for example, also when the weather gets bad?”

“I would rather not show them,” Darkrai states, ending this trail of their conversation with his tone, “But I am rather sure-, well, I got them from claws. A slashing attack.”

He is not entirely sure, of course, but they do look and feel and awful lot like claw marks. Not that he knows a Pokémon with three claws that could have attacked him. Well, he will find out in time.

“They seem to hurt only with physical exhaustion.” More like ‘make more miens than my usual emotionless mask’ for his face, but, well, Duskull don’t really have… faces of the normal kind.

“Hmm…” Blissey hums, then nods, “Alright, I will have something for you in two days, if that is alright with you? It would cost… hm… You know, some of the ingredients are somewhat expensive but I think we could make… 800 Poké?”

Darkrai thinks. 800 Poké… well, it is not cheap, and he can most definitely bear through the pain. But then again, if he will be adventuring more, than the wounds on his back will hurt more, and that would be really annoying.

“800 Poké? For what?” a voice speaks up from somewhere around his legs, and as he looks down, he notices that it is… Pearl. _Of course_ she would follow him. She is like a little Ducklett. Or, well, a Piplup.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, which, in hindsight, might not have been the smartest question.

“You just disappeared, Darcy! You think I wouldn’t look for you?” she huffs, and yes, definitely not a smart question, “But nevermind that, I found you. So, 800 Poké?”

“Simply some medicine. Do not worry, I will pay for it from my own funds.” He nods toward Blissey to tell her that he accepts the proposition, and then, after the very short introduction of Pearl, he moves the two of them away. He would rather avoid her knowing about his scars. She might get distrustful if she cannot see them but knows that he has them.

“Well, what kind of medicine?” she asks, not yet letting the topic go.

“It does not matter.”

“It does!”

“It does not.”

“It totally does—Oh, what’s this?”

They have ended up at the Kecleon Market, and as expected, Pearl’s interest immediately got caught by the things they do not need. She seems to just enjoy looking at the merchandise, luckily.

Obviously, just when they are there, two other Pokémon approach the stand – Marril and Azurill, who live just a little outside of Trash Town. Of course they have to interrupt the calm. Of course Darkrai can’t just stand at a stand without someone else trying to… do their daily business.

Alright, so maybe they have a reason for being here and buying some apples, but that does not mean that Darkrai has to _like_ them being here. They can just buy their apples in silence. Trash Town is too loud as it is, he could do without two children adding to the noises.

Moreover, he does not care for the reason they do it. He does not _need_ the green Kecleon explaining it! This incessant prattle is one of the many, many reasons he hates the world as it is.

“They are brothers?” Pearl, however, swallows the bait. Why does she like _chatting_ so much? What is there to _care_ about?

“Yes, indeed!” the blue Kecleon continues, “Unfortunately, their poor mother has fallen sick. So those youngsters come and do the shopping for her.”

Heart-wrenching. Truly. He might just shed a tear every second now.

… Darkrai still does not care.

But somehow, those two Pokémon feel familiar, but he cannot pinpoint how, exactly. Did he run into them once before? Or did he know… their ancestors? No, he does not remember ever having come into contact with any Marril or Azurill. Then again, seeing as they are truly useless Pokémon, he may simply have erased it from his mind if he ever met one. He does not like keeping useless knowledge.

Well, it does not matter – they won’t have much importance in the long run and after having bought their apples, are already off again.

Pearl does run after them, returning something – probably an apple, Darkrai did not see a reason to pay attention – but once she hands it over, they run off. And Pearl stiffens.

He is about to ask what happened, when Pearl visibly shakes herself and turns around to look at him and the Kecleon brothers with wide eyes

“Did you-, Did you hear that?!” She sounds rather worried.

“Hear what?” The blue Kecleon asks, and yes, Darkrai would like to know what they were supposed to hear, too.

“Someone… It sounded like someone was crying for-, for help!”

“I think I would have noticed a cry for help,” Darkrai answers, definitely questioningly raising his maybe-existent eyebrows.

“Maybe you imagined it?” the green brother asks, and the blue brother adds, “Maybe you are just a little tired? It’s still early, after all.”

And honestly, it is the only thing Darkrai can think of, too. Or can she maybe sense emotions? But why would anyone’s emotions be crying for help? There is, of course, precognition, but she is not a psychic type, so that is out of the question. Telepathy, perhaps?

“Are you-, Are you sure? You really didn’t hear anything? None of you?” Pearl asks, somewhat frantic, her eyes blown wide.

Did the Dimensional Hole somehow screw with her head? It is hard to imagine that it did, since it did not screw with _his_ head, after all (he hopes). But then again, he is definitely stronger than Pearl (he is sure). And unlike her, he did not forget anything so, really, just more proof that she may have some more negative influences from the… let’s call it ‘incident’.

_(Did he get some broken goods when he found Pearl? If so, he would like a refund, please!) head_

“Absolutely sure,” Darkrai tells Pearl. “I have got quite good hearing. Besides, if anyone had truly called for help here on the square, more than one Pokémon would have heard it. It is probably just the lack of sleep getting to you.”

That, finally, breaks her out of the starting hysterics, and with an exhale of breath, she nods.

“You’re probably right… Sorry that I worried you.”

“It’s quite alright,” Green Kecleon says, “We’ve all had something like this, at one point in time! No need to be ashamed.”

Thus, after getting Pearl to calm down a little, they say their goodbyes to the Kecleon brothers (or Pearl does. Darkrai simply nods in their direction in a movement that could, technically, be considered a goodbye) and continue strolling around Trash Town. Pearl is, of course, very much enjoying her first time here, just as every peasant Pokémon does. Although Darkrai does notice a certain tightness to her shoulders. Or where her shoulders would be, if she was still a human.

It is rather peaceful, for the longest of times, and Darkrai gets progressively happier that they decided to put their money into an account, already. Else, Pearl would most certainly have already bought two neckerchiefs-

(“You already have the one the guild gave you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t like the colour red.”

“Yesterday, you had not decided on that,” he says instead of asking, ‘Was the one given to you not green?’

“Well, I decided today, and I don’t like red.”)

… one necklace,-

(“What do you need that for? It has no abilities as far as I can tell.”

“It just looks pretty! Kinda like yours!”

“And?”

“Ugh, you are impossible, Darcy.”)

… and finally, a hair ribbon.

(“You do not even have hair.”

“Well, you don’t, either!”

“Actually I-, Forget it, just tell me, what is your point?”

“What’s yours?”

He had stopped talking, then, because there is no use in arguing when the other abstains from logic.)

Maybe Darkrai was wrong in assuming that Cresselia was the only one who is great at throwing money at useless trinkets. Then again, they luckily did not buy any of those things.

As such, the day progresses peacefully until they decide to return to the guild, which is when they run into Marill and Azurill once again. This time, the brothers are together with a Drowzee. Huh. Darkrai has not seen that one here, before – but then again, Trash Town is one of the biggest settlements on the Grass Continent, so there is always a certain amount of travel coming through.

It is only once the three other Pokémon have gone on their merry way to retrieve some kind of item or so (he did not bother to overhear what they were talking about), that Pearl clutches her head, as if in pain. Did the Drowzee injure her anywhere as he just ran into her? If he did so, he is _going to pay!_ _Pearl is his, and his only, to injure!_

“Are you alright?” he asks her with fake worry in his voice. Pearl shakes her head, still clutching it.

Were the nightmares he gave her tonight so bad? She is sleeping closest to him, after all, and his Bad Dreams are always most effective the closer he is. What is he thinking, of course they were incredibly bad. He is _Darkrai, god over nightmares and darkness_. He does not do mild nightmares.

“Can we-, Could we-, I-, I need to tell you something, can we go somewhere where there’s less people, uh, I mean, Pokémon…?” She asks instead of answering his question (rude) but he decides to just be a _great friend_ and help her out. Thus, he starts to stir her over to the Duskull bank, until they have come to a stop behind it. Dareios, of course, stares at them in obvious interest, but after noticing that the Piplup is obviously unwell, he just nods in acceptance of them using the back of his bank as a retreat.

Darkrai then looks at Pearl, who, while he had his voiceless conversation with Dareios, had sat down and stopped clutching her head. He sits himself down, too, else the height difference is just a little too distracting.

“I… I think I had a vision,” she finally says, and Darkrai stares at her in disbelieve. A vision? But she is not a Psychic Type!

“A vision?” he therefore asks, “What kind of vision?”

“Uh, well, I… I saw Azurill… He got threatened by Drowzee… We need to help him!”

… Ah. Yes. She is a hero, is she not? He had almost forgotten (he had not).

“Pearl, I do not intend to sound mean, but are you sure that you are not just tired?” He asks instead, trying his best to truly sound worried. And maybe he does not have to try too hard, seeing as she might just be hallucinating. She did not hallucinate when he met her in his past, did she? He would have noticed, obviously.

“I’m not!” Ouch, his poor ears. That was a rather… fierce answer.

“Alright, alright, I trust you,” he lies.

“I know you do, I trust you too… I’m sorry. It’s just-, time might be running out and Azurill was all alone with Drowzee and, and, and I don’t know, I can’t let anything happen to him!”

Darkrai sighs. “Well… I mean, first of all, we just saw Azurill and the Drowzee. They cannot even be far from the town, yet, so whatever you think you saw cannot be happening right now. Secondly, we are only apprentices of the guild at the time, so we cannot go wherever we want whenever we want…” But honestly, he does not really care about what Chatot or Wigglytuff or Bidoof think about them. He does not care at all. “Not that this would stop us,” he therefore clarifies.

“Anyways, that is the third thing, did you see where they were? Could you identify the place at all, lead us there?”

At this, her eyes widen, and she starts nervously rubbing her flippers against each other. “I-I didn’t really… There was water, maybe? No, wait, I think there was no water. Maybe stones? Or… rocks? Maybe something like, uh… a mountain? Oh no… I really don’t know where they were…”

“It is quite alright. Let us simply return to the guild for now, maybe someone there knows more about visions.”

Because he definitely does not, he is a Dark Type, after all. Cresselia might, but he is not about to ask her. Anyone else? Hm, maybe one of the Lake Guardians, but he won’t ask them, either. Dialga and Palkia might know, too, but... Well.

Even though they have not figured out that he was (will be) behind the collapse of Temporal Tower, he would still rather not talk to them.

Now that he thinks about it, are there actually any Legendaries that would _not_ look down on him or straight up tell him to “Go away,” if he spoke to them?

…

…….

………..

It does not matter, at least Pearl likes him! He thinks. Except… What if she is reliving time again, too? And has already seen through his ruse and is now simply toying with him and—

 _No, calm down_ , he tells himself. He initially ended up here because he… he…

… Because of reasons that he does not want to go into, at the moment. It does not matter, anyway. His stumble through time was most decidedly not planned – his scars prove that, at least. So unless Pearl knew of the specific plan he has come up with, and then got someone to create a means to travel through time for her – which is highly unlikely, since Dialga and Palkia were rather… miffed by what happened, the future’s Celebi probably does not exist anymore and the only other Pokémon who he knew possessed the ability was himself – then landed directly on the beach of Treasure Town and was an even better actor than Darkrai,…

Well, the gist of it is this: It is highly unlikely.

While Darkrai had been busy thinking about _current events_ , they had already reached the inside of the guild and, standing before one of the notice boards, Bidoof had even started talking – not that Darkrai had ever planned on listening to it. By how much he scared the useless Normal Type before, there would most likely be a lot of stuttering involved, anyway, and listening to others stutter gives him a headache.

He only looks up when, suddenly, the earth starts rumbling.

An earthquake? Sure, there had been more in the last few months, but… He looks to his left. The Pokémon on the other side do not seem to have any difficulty standing upright. And earthquakes do not happen in such small, isolated areas.

…Right?

They obviously do not, as Bidoof simply announces, “Oh, the data’s getting updated.” Then, he continues to explain how their resident Dugtrio is simply replacing the board’s old jobs with new ones.

Ah yes. That explains it. A simple Ground Type. Probably the Dugtrio he saw around the town sometimes. If he remembers correctly, he might have even served him at the bank once. And unless he is mistaking the Dugtrio for another Dugtrio, he might have also _insulted_ the other, at least that was what the Dugtrio claimed.

… He actually hopes that it was another Dugtrio.

Once the board turns around, Darkrai looks at it, again, with interest. It might be smart to keep an eye out for Pearl’s true Pokémon Partner - he is a Grovyle, correct? To be honest, Darkrai wasn’t that invested in what was happening to them the first time around – sure, he attacked while they travelled to the past, but that was the end of it.

He concentrated more on trying to get Temporal Tower to collapse, which is, unsurprisingly, rather hard.

But yes, he is rather sure that the partner was a Grovyle. He definitely was not fully evolved.

Suddenly, Pearl grabs his arm and tugs.

“Darcy, look!” she hisses and points at one of the wanted posters. Is it Grovyle? Has she somehow recognized him?

Of course not. Instead, it is…

Drowzee.

Huh. Guess that guy truly was up to no good.

“We need to help Azurill! Now!”

And before Darkrai can even say another word, she is tugging him along, out of the guild, leaving a bewildered Bidoof behind.

And once again, they find themselves in a Mystery Dungeon. After Pearl, very panicked, left the guild, dragging an unhappy Darkrai along, they ran into Marill, who showed them where his brother and Drowzee had gone. Apparently, the small Pokémon had lost sight of the other two (like the idiot he is) and thus hurried back to Trash Town for help.

Where he found them, thanks to Pearl.

Thanks, Pearl. Darkrai could be doing so many more useful things with his time, but instead, he is here, trying to get Pearl to just stop rushing so much!

Marill led them to Mt. Bristle, one of the local summits. Not one of the dangerous ones, thankfully, because Darkrai is annoyed enough already and he could not be sure that he would not just let a feral Pokémon knock Pearl out. Why did he ever decide to pretend to be someone’s friend? He hates this, and moreover, he hates Pearl.

She is basically running through the Dungeon, which, obviously, makes sense, in a way. She thinks that Azurill is in serious trouble and every second counts. But he is not made for running, he is made for slowly but insistently pursuing others! Well, and sometimes running, when his life depends on it. But not when a useless kid was stupid enough to get itself kidnapped!

So what if Drowzee threatens or even attacks him? He is not going to _kill_ him. Darkrai thinks. And even if he does, who cares?

Not Darkrai.

“Pearl, slow down!” he finally calls out, and she turns around, her eyes wide.

“I can’t! Darcy, we need to help Azurill!”

“You-, _We_ won’t help him if we get ourselves knocked out in this Dungeon,” he answers, maybe a little frosty. It is always harder to control himself when he becomes annoyed.

“And we won’t help him if we arrive too late!” she shoots back.

Huh. Feisty. He had imagined her to be a little more well-mannered.

“I am not saying we should stop moving completely,” he throws back, not moving at all. “We should simply proceed more carefully. I won’t be able to save you every time.”

In this, Dungeon, he probably could. But he is thinking about the future here, and not all Dungeons are child’s play. In fact, most are not.

“I-,” and she sighs. “You’re right. I’m just very worried.”

“Understandably so. Come, let us continue at a more sedate pace. Better to arrive late than not at all.”

Pearl nods, her vigour back in a matter of seconds.

And so, they continue – a little slower than before, at least.

They arrive on the peak of Mt. Bristle in good time – and probably not too late, as Azurill is still loudly crying for help. Dead Pokémon generally do not tend to do that.

“Stop right now!” Pearl shouts and rushes forward. Darkrai just holds back from rolling his eye in exasperation. So much for proceeding carefully. He follows her at his own sedate pace.

Drowzee seems to panic at their arrival. It is understandable – if one is a total failure of an outlaw, of course they would panic.

“H-how did you find this place?!”

“Does it matter?” Darkrai asks back, doing his best to turn on his menacing auraTM. It does not have the same effect as when used with his true form, but he still notices Drowzee involuntarily shuddering.

_(Good. Fear me, foolish second-rate-villain.)_

“Are you a-an Exploration Team?! You-you came to apprehend me?!” the outlaw cries out, pointing out the obvious. Not exceedingly smart, is he?

“Exactly!” Pearl cries. She’s shuddering, too. From anger? Or the considerable coolth up here? No, it seems to be…

Oh no, does his menacing auraTM work on her, too? Blast it! Or is she just… afraid in a normal way?

Drowzee seems to notice it too. “…Huh? Are you… trembling?” he thus asks.

“No?!” Pearl cries. It sounds much more like a question. Drowzee obviously notices and therefore does not believe her. Darkrai does not, either.

The Psychic-Type laughs, at that. It is a very boring laugh. Darkrai’s evil laugh is much more refined.

“I’ve figured it all out!” Drowzee then says, and just as he is about to say more, Darkrai interrupts him.

“Have you?” He will not allow the other to monologue. There is only one Pokémon here that is legally allowed to do so, and that is _Darkrai_.

“Because while you may think my partner is trembling from fear, she is actually trying hard not to jump and kill you right now. She is very violent, unfortunately for you.” There, that hopefully saves the situation. “And anyway, should you really care about her when you are facing a Da-, a Ghost Type right now?”

That halts Drowzee. “Uhm…”

“It does not matter,” Darkrai concludes his very short monologue. There is such a thing as good listeners and bad ones, and Drowzee definitely falls into the second category. Even if he does not interrupt, Darkrai is already bored of this confrontation. “There is nothing left to say. Prepare to be defeated.”

And with that, their battle starts. Technically.

Obviously, Darkrai will be able to take the outlaw out with just a single Dark Pulse. But does he really want to do that? Would he not rather just draw it out and torment—

Suddenly, a Confusion hits him. It obviously does no damage – even with this many-layered illusion, he is still a Dark Type – but… _Did this Pokémon just hit him out of the blue while he was busy thinking?! Oh, it will pay!_

He is just about to hit Drowzee with his Dark Pulse when a stream of Bubbles does so instead. Seems like Pearl can, sometimes, be useful. Drowzee draws back, and Darkrai uses this chance to hit it with the strongest Dark Pulse he can muster.

The Pokémon goes down immediately.

“Huh,” he mutters. Oh, he knew that it would be easy, take no more than one attack, at the most, but… it is kind of disappointing. He is still feeling somewhat murderous. Maybe he should prank someone, today. Bidoof seems like a good target. Yes, once they are back in Trash Town, he will think of a way to prank Bidoof.

Pearl, meanwhile, has approached the still crying Azurill and is calming the stupid kid down. Well, as long as he does not have to do it, it is fine. He does not listen to what Pearl is saying – useless babbling, most likely – instead, he tries to figure out how to use the Explorer’s Badge they were given to call Officer Magnezone.

He may have stopped listening to the specific details when Chatot explained how to do it. Not to fret, he will figure it out. It cannot be so hard, can it?

For now, Drowzee is still lying motionless, but that can change any second. As such, Darkrai inspects the badge more closely. It… well. He will figure it out. Sometime.

… In the end, he hands the badge over to Pearl, claiming that his ‘hands’, if a Duskull’s appendages can even be called that, are giving him trouble and she should do it instead. She does so with no teasing words, while Azurill babbles something like ‘Thank you’ to Darkrai. He ignores the useless urchin.

After that, it is a fast ordeal. They make their way down the mountain again (over which suspiciously dark clouds are gathering, which make Darkrai rather happy to get off that high peak – it would not do to be felled by a wayward bolt of lightning), Magnezone gets called with the help of the badge (and _no_ , Darkrai does _not_ stare at him and his deputies in distrust, fearing that they will try to arrest him, too) and thus, the officer and his henchmen take Drowzee away.

Then, Azurill and Marill reunite. It is a disgustingly tearful reunion, and Darkrai averts his gaze. He _hates_ when others get so touchy-feely. And the only reward they give them are their thanks. Great. He is sure that Kecleon will accept them if they try to buy anything. Or maybe, they can put ‘Azurill and Marill’s thanks’ into their new bank account. Surely it would garner some interest. Definitely.

Together with the two blithering brats, they return to Treasure Town, where a confused Bidoof welcomes them at the gate of the guild. Darkrai brushes past him, ignoring whatever he has to say.

However, by far the most aggravating part about the whole capture of Drowzee happens after that – when Chatot only gives them a sum of 300 Poké for it. How is it allowed that the guild gets 90% of the share, again?

And they didn’t even get any items as a reward today!

Ugh. Once he has taken his revenge and created his world of darkness, he will probably open a guild himself and that guild will give the Pokémon in it at least 50% of the share. Dark world or not, even he knows what fairness is supposed to look like.

Once night-time has arrived and they are in their room, a thunderstorm raging in the background (seems like they got off the mountain just in time), Darkrai cannot help but turn to Pearl. There is a thing that has been on his mind the entire time since Pearl practically dragged him out of the guild to rescue the brat, and since she is still awake, he decides to ask.

“Say… You saw the scene we stumbled upon with Drowzee and Azurill earlier today, did you not? Before it happened.”

“Oh! Yeah, I did!” she answers, lounging on the bed on her back and looking at him with her head hanging from it. She must be seeing him upside down, because of whatever reason she feels it is necessary to lie like this. So undignified. “Everything looked a little… wonky, I guess, but it was definitely the same scene. And it was also the cry for help I heard, when we were with the Kecleon Brothers!” She nods, as if to validate her words. The movement loses some of its emphasis, what with her face being upside down.

“That means you had a vision, no, two visions of the future,” Darkrai mutters, mostly to himself but still loud enough to be heard by Pearl. He floats from left to right, and back again, before the window, thinking. Finally, he turns to Pearl. “Did anything incite them?”

“Incite them? You mean, bring them on? Hmm….” She seems to think. “I… I think when I touched the apple I got the first one? I know it sounds silly, but that’s the only thing I can think of, and—”

“Apple? What apple?”

“The apple Azurill dropped? The one the Kecleon brothers gifted them?”

“… Ah yes,” he finally echoes, “That apple.” He has absolutely no idea what she is talking about.

“Yeah, that apple. And then once Drowzee ran into me, I got the second one – of that, I’m like, 90% sure.”

“Huh. Then they might be induced by touch…” Darkrai wonders aloud, starting his floating pattern before the window once again. “Which is strange. You are not a Psychic Type, and neither are your evolutions. So why, exactly, did you have these visions?”

Having a Psychic Type here would really help. But then, the Psychic would also need to be trustworthy, and Darkrai has never met one that is.

“Uh… I don’t know?”

“Yes, I figured,” he scoffs, only to notice how frosty that came out. He is supposed to act friendly towards her, darn it, even if he does not mean it! “What I meant to say, is, it seemed obvious, since you have amnesia, I just… forgot it for a second, there. Anyways, we could try asking Dareios – he is weirdly knowledgable in certain things. And if that does not work, there is a Xatu in Trash Town too. It is… let’s put it as ‘a little unusual’, but still, it is a psychic type, so it might know something.” With how odd the bird is, it would probably not even remember that they had spoken with it a few hours after it. Which is preferential for them.

“Trash Town?” Pearl suddenly speaks up and—

Darn it, did he say that out loud?

“Uhm… I meant Treasure Town, of course?” It sounds more like a question than an answer. Is this it? Does the Piplup now like him less, now that she heard him speak badly about the town full of friendly Pokémon? Will she now realize that he is not who she thinks he is?

She snickers.

… What.

“Is that the nickname you have for it?” Her grin seems… teasing?

He groans. Well, there is no way to save it, now, is there? “Yes. It is.” His answer comes out very clipped. Then, he tries to come with a reasonable explanation. “It is just that… it is so light and loud and I just do not like that.”

There. That is even part of the truth, and since he is posing as a ghost Pokémon, it should even make sense – after all, they prefer the dark. Just like him.

She laughs, then.

He stares at the wall in annoyance. This is not supposed to be _funny_.

“Don’t be huffy, I’m not laughing at you!” she tries to clarify, and – as if. “I just think it’s a funny nickname! A little mean, but funny.”

At this, he truly huffs, which leads Pearl to even more giggling. She would probably not have stopped if not, through the wall, the voice of Loudred (much louder than at morning), shouts a “SHUT UP, some Pokémon want to SLEEP!”

Darkrai scoffs at the coarse language, but at least it does the trick of silencing Pearl.

… Who seems to be a lot more accepting of him than he would have believed her to be, he thinks as he lies in bed, staring at the ceiling and counting the miniature stalactites that could fall down and impale him while he is asleep.

Then again, liking everyone probably comes with being a hero. But he should not believe himself to be able to show how he truly acts toward her, still.

She might be somewhat accepting of some parts, but if he continues this almost… almost _honest_ behaviour around her, his plan will soon be ruined. He needs to be more careful. Much more careful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially, the last chapter and this one were one very big chapter - and for that reason, I split them up. However, since posting the last chapter, I continued editing and also adding to this part of it and uh... I somehow managed to add over 3000 words to it without even meaning to. Brevity is the soul of wit, it is said, and it seems that, therefore, I do not have any wit.
> 
> With that out of the way, thank you once again for all the new kudos, comments and bookmarks! I treasure each of them so much. I have also decided that I will answer all comments at the day of a new chapter being posted - I am studying quite a lot at the moment (almost always, to be honest), and with a system like that, I am the least stressed about it.


	5. Darkrai has murderous cave-ings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl was finally shown Treasure Town by Bidoof and Darkrai, where they met Azurill and Marill. As the day progressed, they ended up saving Azurill from a Drowzee, much to Darkrai’s chagrin, who would really much more prefer the world to just let him be evil in peace. The day ended with them trying to figure out why Pearl saw future events happening, but coming up with no answer. Oh and Darkrai also bullied poor Bidoof quite a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is, funnily enough, not the Ides of February. Those will be tomorrow.
> 
> Today is, however, the beginning of the Lunar New Year, commonly also known as the Chinese New Year. Because of this, I decided to update today as well (tomorrow will be the regular update, at least if I can finish the final edit in time. If not, I will post the chapter overmorrow, hopefully.)
> 
> Therefore, Happy New Year!

Choosing jobs is boring, Darkrai decides around his seventh day in the guild. No, let him rephrase that. Choosing jobs is funny insofar as thinking about the distraught Pokémon who make these notices is funny. Doing menial jobs is utterly and completely boring, because he actually has to help make distraught Pokémon… not distraught.

Normally, he would be the one making them distraught, darn it! He is not _supposed_ to make them feel better!

And between the clients always acting like they are suddenly friends because he helped them, Chatot taking 90% of the profits, and everyone in the guild being irritating imbeciles all the time, Darkrai is really starting to ask himself if this plan was ever a good idea.

With an annoyed huff, he takes a random job from the board (well, not really random – he did skim over it, before) and without making sure that Pearl follows him makes his way of the guild.

The day is sunny – again. It is still summer, of course the day would be sunny. At least there is a slight breeze, if not, it would really be much too hot. Like it always is. That they even had a thunderstorm a few days ago was honestly so very out of the ordinary, he is somewhat wondering if it had something to do with Pearl existing in this time. Maybe Dialga or Palkia telling her that they are angry?

But no, they would not merely send a thunderstorm. That is not their style. Maybe one of the Forces of Nature passing through, then.

Not that this mystery truly needs solving.

“Hey, uh, Darcy? Darcy?”

He rolls his eye. And now, the annoying once-human wants his attention. Great. Just great. They are not even at the Dungeon yet! Won’t be, for another half an hour, at least. No, instead they have to walk through fields filled with flowers. Disgusting.

“What is it?” he asks, not slowing down in the slightest. His voice might be coming out a little… unfriendly, but then again, he does not care.

“Uh, I’ve just got a question. Two, actually, because I don’t know what our assignment is today.”

He takes out the job assignment and thrusts it at her face. She takes it on what seems like instinct, then, sighs. “I can’t read that, Darcy.”

“Learn it.”

“Ugh, okay, I get it, you got up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“I did not—”

“But honestly, I don’t care.” Her tone of voice can only be described as a flippant. Is she… angry? And then, even more confusingly, she continues with a voice that just seems… normal. “Your mood is your own problem, I’ve still got another question.”

… He did _not_ get up on the wrong side of the bed. He is simply annoyed with… the world, really. As he often is. It would be a much nicer place if it was drenched in eternal darkness.

Finally, he decides to, once again, grace Pearl with his attention again and play the role of a friend. A slightly grouchy friend.

“Well, then ask it.”

“Great!” And now, she sounds happy. This is so _confusing_. “Okay, so, it’s been a few days since then, but I’ve been wondering why you got so angry when Bidoof called you Darcy. I mean, I know that you get angry easily—”

“I _do not_ —”

“But normally, I kinda understand where you are coming, but not with that. So, yeah, why did you get so angry with him?”

“I _do not_ get angry easily. Moreover, stop interrupting me or I won’t answer any of your questions.”

She mumbles something, and it almost sounds like ‘you will because you like to monologue’, but surely, he must have misheard. Pearl would not talk about him like this, after all. She is much too nice for it.

“Anyways, ignoring your completely false interpretation of my behaviour, to answer your question… It has to do with how names work, for Pokémon. But if you were really a human before, you obviously would not know.”

“And how do they work? Since I really _was_ a human.” Did he imagine her rolling her eyes? He must have, she would never, being as good as she is.

He gets to explaining. “So, generally, young and unevolved Pokémon do not have names and only earn them once they evolve or get older. Take for example Bidoof. He is still very young _and_ unevolved, and therefore only gets called Bidoof.”

“Oh, so that’s why Marill and Azurill also only go by… well, Marill and Azurill?”

“Exactly. However, once you have received a name, most commonly by aging or evolving, not everyone is allowed to use it. Generally, if you are on a name-to-name basis with another Pokémon, it shows that you are rather close and have given each other permission to use your name. Now, the permission part is very important – one should never assume that they just have the permission. That is incredibly rude.”

“Oooh… I think I understand! I had kinda started to wonder why no one except you asked for my name. Or told me their name. So you got angry because you hadn’t given Bidoof that permission?”

“I did not get angry,” he clarifies. As if he would ever get angry, that is beneath his dignity, “But yes. That was the reason behind my…” … anger? No, he did not get angry! Uhm… “… my exasperation.”

“Sure you weren’t angry.” That was most definitely sarcasm. Rude. “But you said that Pokémon generally evolve to get their names?”

“I did not say that. Either they evolve or they simply get older. But I think I can see why you ask – my cousin and I are obviously still unevolved.”

“I mean, yeah. But you’re also kinda old, aren’t you? Or at least older than Bidoof…” she trails off.

“I am not old, Pearl,” he lies without any hesitation. “Older than you, of course, but not _old_.”

“How old are you, then? And how old am I, while we are at it?”

“How should _I_ know?” he asks, and unfortunately, that is also the moment a gust of wind takes its chance to whip his hair into his face. Oh, sure, he is thankful for the cooling effect it has, but not the _hair which now got into his mouth_. And he can’t even sputter to get it out, because that would look strange with the illusion! Ugh, he _hates_ this.

“Well, I dunno,” Pearl answers, unaware of his troubles, “You said that you are older, so you must at least have a guess at how old I am.”

Well,… He actually does _not_ know how old she is. Younger than twenty years, definitely. Younger than fifteen? Most likely. He also thinks that she must be at least ten years, but… he cannot narrow it down much further. “Between ten and fifteen, I would wager,” he finally answers. “And since I am most decidedly older than fifteen-“

“ _How_ much older?” she interrupts, like the rude little thing she is. He sighs theatrically and moves his hands in front of his face – to her, it would seem like exasperation. For him, it is a chance to get his thrice-cursed hair out of his mouth.

“Has no one ever told you _not_ to ask a ghost Pokémon about their age? It is incredibly impolite.” He finally answers – he just made it up, of course, but she does not need to know that.

“Well, no. A few days ago I could not even talk to Pokémon, you know?” she spits, and then adds a mumbled, “At least I think so.”

“Ah. Yes,” he awkwardly answers. “Anyways, it is impolite. Just know that I am older than you.”

“Sure you are,” she says, while picking an abandoned scarf up from the ground. How it got here, he dares not guess. “Anyways, do you think this belongs to someone? Should we take it with us and try to find its owner?”

“It does not have an owner, anymore. Well, at least if whoever lost it does not post a notice on the guild’s bulletin boards until tomorrow, then, we can keep it. Besides, you said you did not like your red neckerchief, so there you go, a yellow one for your convenience.”

“Uh, I think it’s pin—”

He interrupts. “So, back to names and your question about my cousin and me. Ghost Pokémon generally handle it a little differently. Like many things.” Which had taken him a little while to learn – but he learnt it, centuries ago, and has not forgotten it. “Since quite a few of them were actually alive in different forms before becoming ghosts, they continued carrying their names, and it became a trend among all Ghost Pokémon – including those that had just always been ghosts - to name someone from the beginning of their existence. Still, only if you have established the necessary bond for it can you call one by their name.”

“That’s really interesting! But… there are really Pokémon that-that died and then… became ghosts? Did you…”

“I did not,” he assures. “But yes, there are – although they are very few, nowadays. I have not met too many, and if I dare say, I have met a lot Pokémon during my life.” Of course he would have, considering that he’s been alive for centuries. Not that he would tell her that. Then, for good measure, he adds, “And ghost Pokémon _can_ die, make no mistake in that regard.”

“Then… what happens to them, after they die? Do they just become… Ghost-Ghost Types?”

Darkrai will never, not even under torture, admit to it, but at that idea, he snorts out loud. Then, he coughs, because he did _not_ snort or anything. He would _never_. Not at stupid ideas, that were clearly not even intended as jokes.

Pearl stares at him. “What? That was a real question!” The grin and following snicker… make him doubt it, somewhat. Not that it matters, since he did not find it funny in the first place.

“No,” he answers after stopping his fake-coughing, “They do not turn into… well, what you said. What happens after death? I would happily tell you, if I knew. As it turns out, no one knows.”

“Okay, so it’s just… like normal death, then? Like, a death where you are gone after and not a ghost?”

“Exactly. Just a normal death.” Which is, incidentally, what he also plans on _granting_ her after his revenge.

“Well, that’s depressing,” Pearl finally says after the silence between them grows a little too long for her, it seems. “Let’s go back to names, yeah? Like, are there any other exceptions, besides ghost Pokémon?”

A change of topic? It is not a bad idea, and so he indulges her. “Indeed there are, one of the most notable one being Legendary Pokémon.”

“Legendary Pokémon?”

“Surely you know what Legendary Pokémon are. You cannot have forgotten that, too. I even told you about various Legendaries a few days ago.” Did he hit her _so_ hard while she was in the Dimensional Hole? She must have at least known Primal Dialga, and as he stated, he _told_ her about a few before.

“Uh… Yeah, I think so? And you did? Oh, wait, you mean like Palkia and Dialga?”

As he nods, she continues, “So, from what I remember, they… are especially strong and, uh, clouded in myths?”

“A sufficient explanation. To simplify it even more, they are what amounts to gods for our world.” And yes, that obviously includes him. He is a _god_.

“Oooh. Yeah, I kind of knew that, but couldn’t put it into words. And the naming…”

“Yes, I was getting to that. Legendaries generally do not have a name, since most are either the only being of their species – like Palkia or Dialga for example – and therefore do not need a name to lift themselves off of the others, or only have such a miniscule population that they also do not need a name – Latios and Latias would be an example of that. I believe their current population is five or six. Eight at most, but I am rather sure that currently, there are less.”

“Okay, yeah, that sounds logical, I guess,” Pearl summarizes, _eloquent_ as always, “So, if I ever meet a Legendary – not that I think I will – if I just call them by their species name, would they be insulted because it’s also their normal name?”

First of all – she will. She _is_ currently meeting a Legendary. Secondly… That is not that bad of a question, really.

“Hm. It depends on the Legendary in question, of course, but generally no, they would not. The ones who are the only one of their species don’t-, they do not even know about the naming traditions of the normal Pokémon, and the others have accepted it for what it is.”

“Oh, okay. Then, one last question: You didn’t want Bidoof calling you Darcy, but you don’t have a problem with me doing so, do you?”

He does not because it is not his actual name and he is only acting as if they are friends. Still, he cannot say that. “No, I do not, because we are friends. Moreover, I asked you for your name when I first met you, and you told it, which generally means that you offer to be on a more personal basis with the other Pokémon, so I just reciprocated.”

“Oh! Okay, that makes sense. Thank you for the impromptu-lesson, and thank you for being my friend, Darcy!” She smiles at him, and he can feel himself softening his gaze in return.

But only because his plan is finally taking fruition, and he is happy about that. Nothing else.

Life at the guild does not become easier, at least not on a social level. The only good thing is most likely Pearl becoming aware that Darkrai does not want to spend the entire day by her side – as much as he may try to force himself, in the end, he does need times to be on his own, in silence, just ignoring the world – and as such starts making… _friends_ with the other members of the guild. He honestly does not care – it is not like she would ever trust any of them like she trusts him.

He hopes.

Like this, the days pass and turn into weeks, until finally, the first winds of beginning autumn start to arrive.

The next few days, they generally spend doing rescues and item retrievals. Some of the days, they are forced into what basically amounts to sentry-duty and have to identify the footprints of Pokémon trying to get into the guild.

Darkrai mostly leaves that duty to the Piplup – for one, he does not shout (it is inappropriate behaviour for a Legendary – and yes, that means that Dialga and Palkia are generally behaving extremely improper), and two, he is also not _interested_ in looking at footprints and matching them to unimportant Pokémon.

Besides, who even identifies Pokémon by their footprints? Why not just have the sentry of the day stand in front of the building? They cannot tell him that it is to learn to read footprint runes – for one, they are a writing system based on, but not depicting actual footprints, and secondly… well, it would be idiotic to try and teach someone like this. Pearl still cannot read them, after all.

Still, the payout… is not quite that bad. More than they sometimes get through normal exploring (courtesy of Chatot). Which means that they will still do it.

Well, Pearl will do it.

After a little over two weeks, something out of the ordinary happens, finally. It starts with a morning announcement by Chatot.

“In Treeshroud Forest…” the bird starts, “Time has apparently stopped.”

That statement is, obviously, met with disbelieve by most of the guild’s members. Darkrai, of course, is not surprised – he was just waiting for something like this. It seems that, finally, everything is moving forward and he will soon get his chance at revenge, if he does everything right. Finally. he was getting so very annoyed at all of this.

He does feign surprise at the announcement, though. It would be embarrassing if his plans slipped through his fingers because of a little mistake like missing an acted emotion.

After that disgustingly attention-grabbing statement, Chatot explains further.

“Now, why has time in Treeshroud Forest stopped? Well, it’s because Treeshroud Forest’s Time Gear was… stolen!”

… How surprising. He would have never thought that something like that could ever happen. It is completely unexpected.

But obviously, Chatot’s newest statement is met with even more outrage and confusion by most of the Guild’s members, lesser Pokémon that they are. Pearl turns towards him.

“Time Gear? You said they—”

“Control time in certain places, exactly,” he answers, just as quietly as she asked.

“But… why would anyone steal that? Don’t they know that it makes time stop?” she asks, incomprehension clear on her face.

Darkrai shrugs. “Why would anyone ever steal important artefacts?” Maybe to ruin the world as it is. Some Pokémon dislike such a light world. “Maybe they think they can get money out of it. Maybe they have a grudge against Dialga. Maybe they want the world to stop moving, for some reason. I would not know.”

A lie, but as all of his lies are, a necessary one. Oh, Cresselia or any other starry-eyed idealist would insist that almost none of them are necessary, but he tends to disagree. All of his lies have reasons behind them, even if they may simply be to make others distraught, or to have fun.

Pearl, noticing that she won’t get him to talk more about the topic turns to another of the guild’s members and instead whispers with her. Darkrai ignores them and lets everything else that Chatot says wash over him – he does not care for the investigation started by Magnezone or that they should watch for any suspicious characters.

Well, he can certainly do that. And if he finds them, he will even invite them and congratulate them on doing their best to unknowingly shroud the world in darkness – credit be given where credit is due, after all.

“So, everyone, do keep a look out! If someone steals one Time Gear, they might also steal others!”

Yes, yes, Chatot already said that. Although, judging by the intelligence of most of the guild’s members, maybe repeating things is not that bad of an idea.

“So keep that in mind when exploring.”

Feeling that the guild’s head of intelligence has come to an end, the Pokémon start to disband, however, Chatot cries, “That’s not all! Everyone, stay!”

Everyone stays.

“Almost all of you may have noticed it, but let me ask you still: Who has had bad dreams during the last nights?”

Oh no.

Now would be the perfect time to melt into the shadows and get away from here, probably. But he already went over all the facts in his head – there is no evidence proving him to be behind it! Besides, he could not even stop it if he tried.

He raises his hand together with all of the other recruits – after all, he _has_ been having nightmares.

“Just as we thought. The Guildmaster and I have noticed that, for the last few weeks, seemingly everyone in the guild has been experiencing nightmares.”

This raises another bout of whispers from almost everyone who now exclaims that, ‘they thought they were the only one’.

“We are not sure where they stem from – we are, of course, investigating the matter, but as of yet, haven’t found a reason. It might have to do with the other natural disasters we are experiencing at the moment, it might not. However, if any of you find something that might help with solving this strange phenomenon, come forward immediately.”

One of the guild’s many inhabitants, a Chimecho, speaks up. “Might it be connected to the stolen Time Gear?”

Chatot is caught by surprise. “It might be. We’ll investigate in that direction. However…”

Suddenly, its voice turns deadly.

“If a Pokémon is behind it and thinks that this is a funny prank, you better stop now or there _will_ be consequences.”

… Is… Is Chatot looking at him, directly? That is… anti-favouritism! Just because he is the only Ghost (Dark) Type in the guild does not mean he is responsible!

He is, but that does not nullify the point he has!

“And that is all. All right, everyone! Here’s to another busy day of work!”

And now, acting like he did not… insinuate all of this! Whatever good day Darkrai might have had, it is ruined now. The least he can do is just ignore Chatot for the next few hours and complete another day of annoying assignments, but then, just as he and Pearl are moving towards the ladder—

“Oh, you two, come here,” Chatot calls them over.

… Great. Just wonderful. Splendid. Darkrai could not have a _better day_ if he got thrown through time and space!

“You’ve become quite good at your work, the Guildmaster and I are quite impressed with it!” the bird says and… it is praising them?

Well, he’s _praising_ them, as he _should_ , as Darkrai _knew_ he would do!

“So, you will now finally be assigned a mission worthy of a proper exploration team. Give me your map, I’ll show you where we would like you to investigate…”

As Darkrai hands over the map, Chatot does just that and points out a waterfall close to the town – that may or may not conceal a secret, as he claims. Ah yes. Caves hidden behind waterfalls, Darkrai has encountered quite a few of them during his life already.

“Do you understand all that?” Chatot finally asks, and Darkrai and Pearl nod in unisono.

“Good!” is the happy answer, followed by dismissal, “Then I’ll leave you to thoroughly investigate it! Off you go now!”

But before they have gone more than two steps toward the ladder (again), the bird once again calls them back.

“Oh, and… there is something else.” This time, Chatot sounds not as happy as before, and Darkrai can feel his annoyance rising to its zenith. They have been here for almost an hour now, discussing first the stolen Time Gear, then the nightmares, and now the assignment, what more? Just let him go to this stupid waterfall! “Know that I am not asking you this because I distrust you, Duskull, but simply because you are the only one here that has the ability to learn the attack Nightmare. Have you been behind the constant bad dreams everyone has experiencing?”

… Ah. It is about _that_. What else, really. And here Darkrai had given Chatot the benefit of doubt, that he would not act on stupid beliefs pertaining to certain Types.

Best to answer with all of his annoyance. But before Darkrai can even huff in exasperation and explain that, no, he is _not_ , Pearl jumps to his defence.

“Darcy would never do that! Besides, he has nightmares, too!”

Chatot stares at the two of them intently.

“Please do not forget that I have been living in Treasure Town for the last few years already, Chatot. Why should I suddenly start tormenting everyone here? Moreover, I do not know the move Nightmare.”

Not a lie – why should he know Nightmare if his ability does the same, and does it more effectively at that?

The stare of the bird intensifies a little and then – the Pokémon breaths out in… relief…?

“That’s good to hear. I’m happy that you are not behind it. Really, Duskull, it is not your type or anything that made me ask that, but rather your… let’s call it _infamy_ in Treasure Town. Your cousin and you do not have the best of history when it comes to pranks.” As if. This was just the usual prejudice that Darkrai has to deal with, masked as simple concern.

“Anyways… it is really good to hear,” Chatot breathes, and suddenly, his demeanour changes, “Now go! What are you still standing here for? You got a new mission!” He flutters with his wings, and what was that quick change in character? Does he honestly belief Darkrai?

What an idiot!

(Darkrai does not feel bad about giving everyone around him nightmares after seeing their trust in him. He really does not. It is their own fault for being so trusting.)

The travel to the waterfall takes no longer than three quarters of an hour (filled with useless conversation), and once they arrive there, Pearl and Darkrai stare at it, not sure how to proceed. Well, Pearl does, anyways – Darkrai is sure that there must be a cave hidden behind it, but he is just not sure enough to jump through it on simple instinct. If there is a wall, he might get stuck in it for the foreseeable future, which is not his preferred state of being.

“Huh, this seems to be a really intense… curtain of water,” Pearl speaks up, and Darkrai just barely keeps himself from snorting. That is certainly a creative way to describe a waterfall. “Any ideas how to get through it?” Pearl’s voice is nearly inaudible over the rushing water.

Darkrai shakes his head – or well, his whole body. Duskull are funny in their anatomy like that. “I would rather not simply jump through it. If we end up beneath the falling water… Well.”

He does not elaborate further, his words implying enough as they are.

Not heeding his words, Pearl makes her way over to the waterfall to carefully touch it, only to be thrown back by its strength.

Darkrai snickers. Well, those that do not listen…

Suddenly, Pearl clutches her head in what seems to be pain. Did she hurt herself?

( _Do not die to this simple waterfall, hero! Not until Darkrai got his chance to take revenge!_ )

Then, she visibly shakes herself, turns around and runs toward him, a smile on her face.

“A vision! I had another vision!” she shouts.

“You had? What did you see?” Ah yes – the visions. They did not get closer to its solution when they tried to solve it: Dareios did not know anything, and Xatu was not there the two or three times they looked for it. Not that Darkrai ever truly spoke to the bird, he just overheard it speaking to others, so he is not sure how trustworthy it truly is. Maybe it was for the best that they did not meet it.

“I saw a… a figure. It leapt through the waterfall. And behind, there’s a hidden cave – at least that’s what I saw.”

“Hm.” Darkrai thinks. “Last time, your vision did show us the future – but what if it is just a fluke, this time, and there is simply a solid cliff wall behind the water? You could hurt yourself – this habit of yours of simply running in the direction of danger without any thoughts is getting a little out of hand, to be honest. Let us rather--”

He finally looks towards Pearl, only to notice that she is narrowing her eyes, like she is planning something very, very stupid. Before he even has a chance to stop her, she has turned around and dashes towards the waterfall and—

\--jumps.

What in the Distortion World’s sake?! Does she want to _die_ so much? Because if so, she should just tell him and let him do the job!

Come on, he does not want to jump through a waterfall! But after this display of sheer recklessness by the Piplup, he really does not have much of a choice, really – he cannot just let her die before he got his revenge! And he also cannot continue standing here, all on his own, when there is very obviously not a wall behind the waterfall. Groaning out loud since no one can hear it, he finally covers his face with his arms, takes a deep breath and then runs forward. And jumps.

He lands safely (and wet) on the other side, where there is, indeed, a hidden cave. A very damp cave, unsurprisingly. It does have some interesting cone-shaped stalagmites and two shallow lakes – or, more accurately, puddles, really. Beside that… it is wet. And somewhat cold.

Pearl is already standing there, of course, and staring at him. Grinning. Slowly, she raises a mocking eyebrow.

“Well, that solid wall certainly hurt, didn’t it?”

Darkrai huffs. “I said it could hurt _you_. I, for one, do not care for solid walls, as I am a ghost.” He is not, but he can still walk through them. He does not do it too often, because it makes him incredibly hungry, but still, he _can_ do it. Then, for good measure, he adds, “However, I do care if I get wet – not everyone is a Water Type, you know?”

Ignoring his second point, Pearl asks, “Wait, can ghost Pokémon actually walk through walls? I thought that’s just… made up or fairy tales or something!”

Instead of a verbal answer, Darkrai simply steps through a few of the stalagmites. Then, he floats out again. Pearl seems speechless.

“Why-, Why didn’t you tell me earlier?! And don’t you dare say, ‘You didn’t ask’!”

The words he was about to say die on the tip of his tongue. He clears his throat.

“Well. It just never came up,” he finally decides. Then, he clears his throat again, turning towards the rest of the cave. “Anyways… Let us simply explore the cave a little bit, now that we are already here.”

And that, they do.

The cave, of course, hides a Mystery Dungeon – what else should it hide? – which they get through without much trouble. Oh, sure, Pearl does not have a type advantage over other Pokémon, but she also does not have a disadvantage, and in his eye, that is what truly counts.

At the end of it, they do not find themselves eye to eye with a disgruntled Pokémon which took the Dungeon as its residence, as happens quite often, but rather—

“Wow, this looks absolutely amazing!” Pearl exclaims, and Darkrai, for once, is inclined to agree. The final room of the cave is full with sparkling gems of different kinds, all kinds of sizes and colours. They even seem to exude a little light. Maybe he should take a few of them with him, put them up as light sources. But if he had them, they would also diffuse the darkness, and since he has no problems seeing in it… Maybe not.

“It does,” he answers after a little while, and then, he is struck by a thought. “…If we took some of them with us, do you think we would be able to keep them for ourselves? And maybe sell them? We did find them in a Dungeon, after all.”

The money-taking-scheme of the guild is still a thorn in both of their sides, so they have started to look for other ways to gain more money – collecting items in the Dungeons and later selling them is one of them and running little errands in Treasure Town is another.

“I… If they didn’t see us having them, they definitely couldn’t take them away, right?” Pearl answers, her eyes not straying from the biggest gem in the cave. It seems to be of a somewhat light pinkish colour, but what is much more important is that it is bigger than her, and almost as big as Darkrai, which really… he has not seen a gem that big in a very long time.

Moreover, Pearl agreeing so readily really makes him quite happy. It seems that his influence has made her much more of a shrewd explorer than when she started! He is almost proud.

“They cannot take what they do not know we have, indeed.”

They grin to each other – or do as much of an equivalent as their species of Pokémon allows them too.

Then, they start looking for gems loose enough that they will be able to pick them up, but disappointingly, none of them are. This is… bothersome. Why are all of them fused with the ground like this? After trying and failing for some time, they regroup, frustrated – when suddenly, Pearl seems to have an idea.

“Say… The big gem, if we managed to make it fall, do you think it would maybe… shatter into smaller ones?”

Oh, he really has to consciously stop himself from liking her. Thinking of theft first, and now property destruction (if it belongs to anyone, which he hopes it does not)? She would make a great outlaw. Maybe he should ask her if she wants to join him, instead of taking revenge. But then, she has proven herself much too heroic, so she would, most likely, deny him.

Together, they start trying to get it to loosen but no matter how much they pull, nothing happens. Suddenly, Pearl becomes stiff – is she having another vision? They are normally accompanied by that and dizzy spells, it seems – and stabilizes herself against the jewel. Suddenly, there is a ‘click’, resounding through the cave.

… What.

The grumbling following it seems even worse.

Darkrai and Pearl share a panicked look, and Pearl even manages to sputter out a, “Oh no, that means that—" but by then, it is already too late – there is a gigantic flood wave coming straight at them and no time to get out of its way – there isn’t even a place that _would_ be out of its way.

They are swept along and before Dakrai can truly comprehend what is happening, they are spat out by the mountain in a gigantic fountain – and then, they are falling.

Sure, Darkrai can float – but that doesn’t translate to flying! Oh no, this cannot be his end, this cannot be—

As his body hits _something_ , he blacks out.

“So, let me see if I got this right – behind the waterfall is a hidden cave, but at its end, there is nothing?” Chatot asks them once again, making sure he got the story straight.

“Well,” Darkrai says, “Nothing truly important. Except for a hidden switch, it seems.”

“And a few gems, but they are kinda fused with the ground? And a really big one, but that’s the one where the switch was, so… Yeah, really nothing important,” Pearl adds – if it is helpful or not, Darkrai has as of yet not decided.

“And, once you activated the switch, a giant wave swept you out of the cave, the whole way to the Hot Spring?”

“Technically speaking,” Darkrai objects, “It only carried us to the top of the mountain, where we were then thrown through the air, all the way to the Hot Spring.”

“Ah yes, yes, of course that makes more sense!” The bird flutters his wings.

… It does not. Darkrai does not point that out.

“So… did we screw up…?” Pearl finally asks, and did this thought weigh on her their whole way back? She had seemed a little downtrodden after they woke up in the Hot Spring, but Darkrai had ignored it, deciding that whatever problems she had, she could face them on her own.

“No, no no! Emphatically, no!” Chatot hurriedly assures her, “This is a major discovery! No one knew that there was a cave behind the waterfall before, and that it even seems to lead to the hot spring if a switch is clicked, this is amazing!” He laughs.

Neither Darkrai nor Pearl join in. It is Pearl who, once again, speaks up.

“Are you sure that no one has been there before? Because I’m pretty sure that… Guildmaster Wigglytuff may have been there, before.”

Darkrai looks at her. Wigglytuff? But why would she know that?

“No, no, no!” Chatot cries out, fast. Too fast. “That’s inconceivable! If that were so, the Guildmaster wouldn’t have ordered you to investigate the place, right?” The answer – desperate, hurried, on the brink of panic tells him everything he needs to know – the bird is lying and is not very good at it. Or maybe he just has too much trust in the Guildmaster.

“Are you sure?” Pearl asks, “I’m… Well, I’m very, very sure that he was there, before.”

“No! Absolutely not! If he was ever there, why would he want me to send you there, after all!”

“We understand,” Darkrai finally interrupts Chatot in his sputtering, “The Guildmaster definitely was never there, correct?”

“Yes, yes, absolutely correct, Duskull!”

“And he also never explored the hidden cave behind the waterfall.”

“Exactly, he did not!”

“And he also pressed the switch and landed at the Hot Spring.”

“Yes, he did tha-, I mean, no, no, no! Emphatically, no! He did not press the switch, because he was never in that cave!”

Darkrai looks at Chatot and then scoffs. “Alright. You have persuaded us.”

“I have? I mean, good that I have! Still, I will ask the Guilmaster, if you would just wait here!”

The next second, the bird has fluttered over to the Guildmaster’s office and closed the door behind him with a loud bang.

Darkrai looks at Pearl. She looks right back at him.

“This is…” She starts, then sighs. “I mean, maybe the vision could’ve been of the future? Oh, I didn’t tell you before, but I’m absolutely sure that the person I saw jumping in the waterfall – and hitting the switch, but I got that vision just a little too late – was Wigglytuff. And I mean, it could be another Wigglytuff, right? But I don’t know, that doesn’t make too much sense, does it? What I’m trying to get it is, I think I saw the past, and in the past, Wigglytuff also entered the cave.”

There is a voice from inside the office, seemingly singing. It seems that Wigglytuff is doing its usual… spiel.

“It depends.” Darkrai finally says, “As of yet, we do not know enough about your visions. It is certainly a possibility, but you have not experienced enough to truly ascertain either answer. But I think it… possible that Wigglytuff could have been there before. You would not know it, of course, but he truly is one of the most renown explorers. He has discovered many things during the last years. Apprehended many criminals, too.”

Darkrai is not afraid of Wigglytuff, of course. However, if it came to a serious fight between them, he would… well, he would most likely want to flee. Wigglytuff is a Normal Type, meaning that Darkrai’s Ominous Wind would not hurt him, and although he could always put him to sleep with Dark Void, his previous ‘morning speeches’ seem to indicate that he might have certain abilities to… well, circumvent that. That would only leave Dark Pulse as an offensive attack, and Darkrai hates having to do all of his fighting with a single attak. Moreover, Wigglytuff has been rumoured to be an incredibly strong fighter – if he gets serious.

So no, Darkrai is not afraid. He simply knows his own limits.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense… Hey, that may be a stupid and unrelated question, Darcy, but…”

“But?” he probes.

“But why do you always talk so stilted? Like, no one else does it.”

… What. What is this senseless accusation?!

“I do not talk _stilted!”_ he forces out, because he does not! He talks in a _proper and dignified_ manner. That is different!

“You do, you absolutely do!” the piplup objects, a grin growing on her face, “Like, just now – you could’ve used ‘don’t’, but instead you said, ‘do not’! And you always do that, and use words that no one else has ever heard before!” He knows that she is accusing him in a ‘good natured’ way, with her smile that big, but… How dare she!

“I _do not_ ,” he repeats, emphasizing the words even more (and darn it, now he is thinking how he could have also said ‘don’t’), “It is not my fault that everyone else chooses to speak like _absolute brutes_.”

“No one speaks like brutes!” she says, interrupting herself with a giggle (a giggle? at _his_ expenses?!), “You just talk like a grandpa!”

“I do not talk like—“

The opening door of the office stops their argument short.

Pulling himself together in a matter of seconds – next to him, Pearl snorts – he looks at Chatot and, in a _proper and dignified_ manner, asks, “Well, what did Wigglytuff say?”

Chatot sighs. “He mulled it over for a bit, then he said,” and suddenly, the bird is singing, “ _Oh memories! Sweet memories! YOOM… TAH!_ ” He shakes himself, as if to having to stop himself from acting just like the Wigglytuff. “Then he danced around a bit.”

“Well, that sounds like the Guildmaster,” Pearl smiles, and then puts her head to the side in what must be a questioning manner, “But… besides that, did he say nothing?”

Chatot sighs again. “He did. He said that, after thinking hard, he may have gone there once before. So, to sum it up, it’s just as Pearl suspected… He has indeed already been to the Waterfall Cave.”

“… That’s a little disappointing,” Pearl sighs, no longer grinning. Darkrai… slightly agrees. Oh, he did not believe they had made the find of the century, but if no one else knew about the countless gems… that would have been nice. He might have found a way to detach them in the future, after all.

“It’s too bad for you,” Chatot agrees, “But still, you did well with your first proper exploration! And tomorrow, I shall once again expect your best effort. And now off you two go, relax a little from your exploration before dinner is finished! Goodbye, see you later!”

“Hey, Darcy?” It’s nighttime, and obviously that means that Pearl has to ask him serious questions. It has become something of a ritual – come night, come serious talk. She is lying on her bed already, this time on her stomach, and for once, he has already laid down, too. As much as he has become accustomed to being awake at day, deep down, it still feels wrong. As soon as the sun disappears, he can still feel himself become more awake.

He would even wager that sometimes, his bad mood actually has to do a lot with being awake during the day. Then again, that would imply that he does not have complete control over his emotions, and that is, obviously, wrong.

Which is why he wants a world of darkness. And for that, he needs to properly befriend Pearl, and for that, he needs to listen to whatever she is saying.

“Yes?”

“Do you think the Guildmaster just wanted us to feel good? And that’s why he sent us to the Waterfall, knowing we’d find something cool there?”

“Hm. I cannot say that I understand the Guildmaster.” He only understands that, as eccentric as he might present himself to be, he is quite the strong Pokémon in reality. “Maybe he wanted to find out if we are worth something by giving us something to investigate that he knew hid something? And if we did not find it, he would know that we failed?”

“I mean, that could be… Do you really think he’s that… sly? I don’t know, it just sounds kind of mean, to do a hidden exam like this?”

“I really do not know, Pearl. Wigglytuff has a certain reputation of being a very strong but friendly Pokémon, so he might have also simply wanted us to feel some kind of satisfaction, by giving us an assignment that he knew would lead us to find something.” Darkrai stares at a wayward strand of hair and the hay in it. Maybe he should invest in a blanket.

“Yeah, that… kinda sounds like him, I guess. But how would he even know to go to the waterfall? Chatot didn’t even seem to know that, and he’s the head of intelligence of the guild.”

“Well, seeing as there was a switch hidden behind the gem, the cave has obviously previously been used by someone. Maybe an outlaw inhabited it and the surrounding Dungeon as their home, maybe it was an old safety measure to hide an even more valuable treasure. Maybe it was a way to get to the Hot Springs and have ‘fun’ on the way. While I did not enjoy it, I am sure that more stupi-, _adventurous_ Pokémon could have another opinion.”

She sighs. “It makes sense, I guess. But you don’t think that the Guildmaster is… he’s not hiding that he’s evil, in reality, right?” Where is she even coming from with this? “Not like Drowzee?”

Ah. This question is hitting much too close to home. And it also hints at a deeper issue.

Darkrai finally looks away from the strand of hair and instead turns directly towards Pearl. “Has that doubt been simmering within you for the last few weeks?”

“I…” She sighs. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t have my memories, and I only know that I was once a human and… I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little afraid that someone might just… that because of this, I’m maybe easily influenced? That someone might make me trust them, like Drowzee kinda did, and that it would… I don’t know, end badly.”

Tarnation. Does she… Has she noticed that something is awry? Is she mistrusting him?

Pearl continues. “Like, I never planned on joining the guild, but you asked me to do it, and so I did. And that’s not meant as an insult or that you exploited me, I really don’t think that!”

Darkrai’s mind feels empty. So is this the end? He honestly cannot think of an answer or a defence. So she has already seen through him? He… no. This cannot be. He must be panicking.

(His rapidly beating heart tells him that he is, indeed, panicking. Taking a deep breath does not help.)

“But I’m just afraid that… some of the Pokémon I met… will meet, might not have as good intentions as they act like. I just feel like, at the moment…”

Should he run away now? Might be best, he cannot risk fighting against the whole guild. He might win against most of them, but Pearl has gotten much stronger in the last weeks, and Wigglytuff…

“You’re my only friend that I can really trust.”

Darkrai stops. What.

“It’s not that I think the other people, uh, Pokémon are evil! But… I just don’t trust them like I trust you. What I really want to say is… thank you for helping me and standing by me and just being my friend.”

What?

That’s… That’s…

What.

Darkrai takes a deep breath and then violently shakes his head. He needs to get a grip of himself! So what if no one has ever actually seen him as their best friend? It is not as if he ever wanted to be anyone’s friend! He is the master of nightmares, and soon, a world suffocating in darkness, he does not need friends!

Besides, this is what he wants. This is what he _needs_ if he wants to succeed. It might be… earlier than he expected it to happen, but that just means that he has laid down excellent groundwork for the future. He…

There is a warm feeling in his chest – is he coming down with something?

“Darcy? Is… everything alright?”

What should he answer? What is the correct answer to a statement such as this? He wracks his brain, but comes up empty.

“Yes. Yes, of course, everything is all right. All left, even. Well, if there was anything left, or right. You know what I mean. Or did you mean alright? Because that it is also. Uhm… I’m… your friend?”

Pearl laughs, and he wants to be angry, he really wants to, but it just sounds so happy and not at all mocking.

“Yes, you’re my best friend!”

His heartbeat is not slowing down – in fact, it is doing quite the opposite. He really must be getting sick. He starts staring at his hair again, and then, he starts counting the individual hairs. He is somewhere around 234 when his heart has slowed down at least enough to look at Pearl. She seems…

He does not interpret her emotion. Perhaps he took too long to answer. Forcing down whatever emotions he might feel about it, he forces a smile on his face and says, “You are mine, too.”

The moment the words leave his throat, his emotions try to force themselves out, again, but he forces them down forcefully. It is bad enough that his heart seems to be beating in his throat, that his chest feels to tight to properly breath. He does not need emotions on top of that.

Finally, Pearl shows an emotion he can interpret – or perhaps time just slowed down until now. In any way, she smiles and says, “That makes me really, really happy, Darcy.”

“Me too?” he answers, and tries to ignore that it sounds like a question. Pearl’s smile widens, and then, she closes her eyes.

“Goodnight, Darcy. I’m happy I could… tell you all of this.”

His nightmares are spent imagining ways how this moment could have gone differently – Pearl telling him that she has seen through him, that she has remembered her past and knows who he is, that she would never even consider thinking of him as a friend—

Every time that he shoots awake as the dreams reach their worst part, he wonders, why, exactly, he would consider this scenario bad enough to dream of it. It must be because it would mean his plans are ruined, he decides in the end.

Nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While writing, I sometimes make dumb jokes for my beta and me to enjoy, but while editing, I obviously erase them. This time was no different, however, there is one 'joke' I really miss, and therefore, I will share it with all of you:
> 
> Darkrai: "To simplify it even more, Legendaries are what amounts to gods for our world.” And yes, that obviously includes him. He is a god.  
> Hulk in the distance: "Puny God"
> 
> Maybe my humour is just really bad, but it cracks me up every time. 
> 
> Oh, and on the topic of Wigglytuff's Type: While writing this chapter, I honestly forgot that Fairy Type is a thing that exists (even though I have played all mainline Pokémon Games and even have some favourite Pokémon among Fairy Types). In the end, I decided to leave that passage as it is, because trying to write around it was just too much of a bother. In the future chapters, however, it is acknowledged that Wigglytuff nowadays has a dual typing.
> 
> The most important thing comes last: Thank you everyone, so much, for all the love you give to this story! I am so incredibly thankful for every kudo, comment, bookmark I get, I cannot mention it enough. Whenever I am feeling sad for whatever reason, I look at the story (like the little narcist I am) and all the love it received and my day gets better instantly. So, thank you so much, it means the world to me.


	6. Three rotten apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter: Darkrai and Pearl were sent to explore a waterfall, where they found a hidden cave and Mystery Dungeon. However, as it turned out, Guildmaster Wigglytuff already knew about the Dungeon, somewhat lessening Pearl's excitement at their find. At night, Pearl admitted to Darkrai that she sees him as her best friend and trusts him above all others, which lead Darkrai to short-circuit (which he will deny, if ever asked about).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate chapter title: Darkrai contemplates murder, and not in a fun way.

“It sounds great, right?” Pearl asks him, metaphorical stars in her eyes and all.

… What sounds great? He thinks – he may have spaced out during Chatot’s morning speech. After wracking his brain for quite a while, he finally finds what Pearl might be referring too, almost buried beneath other thoughts already.

“The expedition?” he finally tries, which makes Pearl roll her eyes.

“No, the way that Chimecho jingles-, Of course the expedition!”

“Do not be so sassy,” he chastises her, “I did not sleep well. I am tired. Would you really beat someone who is already at their lowest? How truly cruel of you.”

Pearl rolls her eyes. “Sure. Because you’re so weak, Mr. Grandpa.”

“Mr. Grandpa-, What does that even _mean_?”

“It means that you speak and behave like a Grandpa, of course!” she laughs and Darkrai can only sigh at her antics. How old is she? A child?

… Well, most likely, yes.

Not that he feels bad because of this, of course. When he attacked her, he did what he had to do. He could have also plunged her into a world of nightmares, but decided to simply attack her partner instead. It was not _his_ fault that she intercepted his attack.

It still happened, of course, but… He has a second chance, now. This time, he will ensure that she can no longer get in his way, _properly_.

“Anyways, do you think we’ll get chosen for the expedition?” Ah yes, that was their topic, was it not?

“I would hope not,” slips out before he can stop himself. Trying to keep the damage small, he continues, “I mean, with us being the newest members of the guild, I am not sure we would do… as good as would be expected.”

“Guess you’re right… But then again, we can always rise to the challenge!”

“Sure,” Darkrai answers without inflection, making his way up toward the job boards. How… uninteresting. He does not care for spending more time than necessary with the rest of the guild, and this expedition just reeks of that happening. But since only some Pokémon will be chosen… maybe he can tip the scales in favour of others joining, and not him.

Once he steps into the upper room, however, is when the day truly starts to go bad, because before the board stand Koffing and Zubat. Or… float. Fly?

What… are they doing here? Why are they before? Maybe most importantly, who let them in?

“What are they doing here?” Pearl whispers one of his silent questions, but apparently, it was too loud. The two annoyances turn toward them.

“I’ll have you know,” Koffing brags, “That we’re an exploration team, too.”

How far have the standards fallen? Where has the _class_ of their profession gone? Disappeared, it seems, never to be retrieved again. He should just have killed the two of them in the Beach Cave when he had the chance.

“But how surprising,” the annoying ball of gas then continues, “That you would be here!”

“I wouldn’t have believed that they let weaklings like you join the guild!” Zubat finishes the insult they were going for.

“I do not want to offend you, of course,” Koffing continues, as if they practiced it (Darkrai does believe it to be so), “But there’s such a thing as talent, and the two of you are rather lacking in it. Like this, you will never make it big.”

And sure, he could try to just ignore the two Pokémon’s annoying commentary, their insults. They are not even good ones, to begin with. But for the last few weeks, Darkrai has really tried to reign himself in – never to be _too_ cynic, never to be _too_ mean, never to threaten everyone who displeases him with dismemberment, torture and/or death – but those guys? Can honestly go rot on a body dump, and he will be the one sending them there.

“I’m sorry, but do I recall it wrong,” he starts, “When I think about how I knocked the two of you out with a single attack? Help me here, Pearl, this is what happened, correct?”

Pearl, immediately catching on to his murderous tendencies – and sharing them, too, if he is reading her correctly – responds with an equally mocking voice.

“Oh, I dare say that you are right, Darcy. I cannot seem to remember them even getting one attack in.”

He cannot like her, he reminds himself, but really, it is becoming hard with her being everything he would look for in a loyal underling.

“That was pure luck!” Zubat cries in indignation.

“Luck or talent?” Darkrai would love to bare some teeth at this statement, but alas, neither in his original form nor in this one does he have the ability to do so. His mocking voice must be enough. “Or do you simply tell yourself that to sleep peacefully at night?”

“Oh you—“ the bat starts, but then reigns himself in and instead just scoffs. Koffing continues for him, “Besides, we didn’t have the Chief with us.”

That makes Darkrai stumble in his inner tirade. Chief? Was it not always the two of them?

Seemingly _smelling_ his confusion (and what a wonder it is that they can even smell anything, with how much they stink), Koffing condescendingly elaborates. “Team Skull, our exploration team,” _What an incredibly stupid name, Team Sky sounds so much better,_ “Has _three_ members.”

“Our chief is incredibly talented,” Zubat crows, and Koffing continues, “To put it bluntly, he’s brutally tough.”

“If he’s as weak as you, I don’t think we have anything to fear.”

Darkrai turns to his side – was this really Pearl who said that? For a second, he thought it could have been himself. It certainly sounds like something he would say, and not the… the hero!

She is… he cannot think of her as amazing simply because she knows how to insult idiots blustering themselves up! He cannot do so, he still needs to take his revenge on her!

Zubat splutters. “Our Chief is amazingly strong! If he were around, we’d snap you like twigs!”

Koffing laughs. Oh yes, what a great joke, Darkrai is incredibly impressed with it. He was even thinking of laughing. Truly.

“Speaking of the Chief, I can smell him coming now!” Koffing suddenly exclaims, and indeed, the smell is suddenly getting even _worse_ , just as a _Skuntank_ makes its way down. Ugh! Just as Darkrai thought the smell was already bad enough!

“Move!” it snaps at Pearl, and before it has even given her a chance to do so, it attacks her with its stinking spray. Now that is just rude! The only one who should be allowed to hurt Pearl is him, and he is only allowed to do so after he has started with his revenge! Besides, it really, really stinks. He… may pass out if he does not get away from her, soon. He takes a step to the side, which does not help as much as he hoped.

Pearl starts coughing and gasping for breathes of air (poor soul), and the other guild members present in the room start to complain about the smell, but the Skuntank simply ignores them and tries to make its way past Darkrai.

“Move it! Or do you want to end up like that wimp over there?!” What a grating voice – just befitting for such an ugly, foul, stinking Pokémon.

“A better question is this: Would you like to end up smelling even worse due to being a rotting corpse?” he snaps back, and oops, that might be seen as _too violent_ a threat. Still, it is worth the Skuntank’s face, who looks taken aback at first, and then, angry.

“Hah! Got some sass in you, don’t you, little ghost! Well, I’ll give you one last chance – you better remember who’s got the type advantage.”

Type advantage his as…sasination that will soon follow of this Pokémon. Sure, if he was an actual ghost, he would be on the losing side – but he is not. _And_ he is also a literal _god_ walking disguised amongst peasants, so really, he is willing to take that chance.

“You know, your _friends_ here were just telling me how incredibly talented you are. But seeing how you feel it necessary to threaten someone with your type advantage, I have a hard time actually believing you.” His riling up seems to work, as Skuntank hisses at him.

And suddenly, Darkrai remembers that fighting is not allowed in Trash Town and the guild, and he thinks of Magnezone’s horrible holding cell.

“Still,” he therefore continues, “I would not want to stop someone as _talented_ as you from associating with equally _talented_ Pokémon.” And with a mocking salute, followed by an even more mocking bow, he moves out of the way.

The three Pokémon stare at him, clearly not sure how to succeed. On his other side, where the remaining guild members retreated to after Skuntank’s barbaric behaviour. A voice mock-yells, “You tell ‘em, Duskull!”, and another adds, “Show them what we’ve got!”

Pearl is still coughing. She might be at it for the rest of the day.

“I don’t think you understand your position, _ghost_ ,” Skuntank hisses, and without any more warnings, he attacks with another spray of foul-smelling substance, but unluckily for him, Darkrai is prepared.

He tried his best to keep anyone from fighting. He truly did! And as a rule, he does not engage with Pokémon that he believes are stronger than him – but Skuntank, very obviously, cannot be stronger. So by showing his willingness to fight, by not backing down, Skuntank should have known not to try his luck. But then again, what can be expected by a Pokémon which’s IQ is beneath a Joltik’s height?

He counters with Ominous Wind, which throws the spray right back unto its user and his two cronies. Their faces at his action are a sight to be seen – first, there is surprise, then the horrified realization, and finally, the coughing – at least from Zubat and Skuntank. Koffing probably thinks it smells like a nice flowery patch.

Darkrai cannot help but snicker at their misfortune – whoever thought that only knocking Pokémon out would grant satisfaction was _very_ wrong. And then, he keeps from gagging, because now, the smell has become really, really unbearable. Tarnation, he should have taken to wearing the necklace the guild gave him again, then, he could at least cover his nose!

“You fuc—” Skuntank starts, but is interrupted by an angry Chatot flying into the room, either having heard some of their argument or smelt the noxious fumes.

“What, exactly, is going on here?!” he cries, flapping his wings _very_ agitatedly. Which has the positive side effect of blowing away the smell, at least somewhat. In the background, Pearl is no longer coughing, but now rather gagging. That’s… better?

… Did Darkrai just screw up? But he was just defending himself, Skuntank attacked first!

Not that this seems to matter for Chatot. “Duskull, what did you just do?!”

He was not at fault!

A sudden voice breaks through the sudden silence, belonging to Chimecho. “Duskull isn’t guilty! This Skuntank first attacked Pearl and then tried to attack him, too!”

“What?!” Argh, his ears! Chatot’s cry is truly shrill and piercing, leaving a ringing in his ears behind.

But Chimecho taking his side…

It is a nice feeling.

“Yeah, it’s true! Skuntank set off a stinking attack against Duskull, eek!” Sunflora confirms, and even Bidoof gives a short “Yup yup, that’s what happened!”

Finally, the idiots of ‘Team Skull’ seem to have gathered their bearings, and Koffing speaks up. “We did nothing but look at the job board when these rookies started bothering us, for no reason whatsoever! Our Chief simply tried to get them to back off.”

Darkrai cannot stop himself in time from rolling his eye. “If only your lies smelt as bad as your attacks, you cads.”

“Duskull! No profanities!” Chatot cries.

He cannot stop himself from murmuring “That wasn’t a profanity.” And really, it was not. He does not curse.

“So, let me get this straight,” Chatot tries to recapitulate what happened, “You were looking at the job board and Team Sky here started to bother you?”

“It was the other way around,” Darkrai states. Can the bird not _smell_?

Pearl has finally stopped coughing so violently and thus, comes over. “These two once stole Darcy’s treasure and-,” She interrupts herself with a cough, “We had to follow them through a Mystery Dungeon to get it back! They have it out for him!”

“We didn’t steal it! We simply admired it!” Zubat tries to defend himself – and that was probably the wrong decision, as it just proves that they did, indeed, take something that did not belong to them.

Chatot looks between the two Teams. “So, you have a history?”

Darkrai sighs and just admits, “You could say that.”

Finally, Skuntank decides to throw in its two cents. “I apologize for my friends’ misbehaviour. It seems that, when I arrived, I read the situation wrong.” What is it with this voice, this is almost… charming! How _dare_ he? “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Ah, a simple misunderstanding, then!” Chatot chirps, suddenly very happy as the situation seemingly resolves itself. “Then I apologize on behalf of our guild, Mr. Skuntank!”

Misunderstanding his… three-lettered-bodypart-used-for-sitting.

“Since we don’t want to trouble you anymore, we’ll be off.” Skuntank says, so very polite that Darkrai almost applauds it for the act it is able to play. Almost. Instead, he holds back a visceral hiss. These… they are getting off so easy!

Finally, the three scoundrels make their way towards the ladder leading out of the guild and then, they are gone. For now. Darkrai is sure that they will meet again, and then…

… He will kill them.

“And you two…” Chatot turns to them, and Darkrai cannot help but swallow. The bird seems truly angry. But _why_?

“You were bothering an honest explorer’s team, for no other reason than an old grudge?! If you want to go on the expedition, you better overthink your behaviour again!”

Pearl starts rubbing her palms against each other, her head towards the floor.

“I did not bother—”

“Silence! Do not even try to defend yourself, Duskull! Now, there’ll be no jobs for you today! Return to your quarters immediately, and stay there! Be happy that I won’t punish you any worse!”

He is grounded. He, Darkrai, Ruler over Nightmares and Darkness, is _grounded_. He, _Darkrai_ , has been _grounded_ by a _Chatot_.

How is this possible?!

This should not-, this _cannot_ be happening! Why is he letting himself live through this embarrassment? Why is he letting Chatot, the cause for this embarrassment, live any longer?!

And no, he is not sulkily sitting on his bed! He is nefariously plotting revenge while incidentally sitting on his bed. There is a big difference, thank you very much! Oh, he wants to kill Chatot! And Skuntank and his cronies.

Long, drawn out, violent deaths he will give them, haunted by the worst imaginable nightmares they will be, forevermore! Once time has stopped its run, they will wish that a dark world was their only worry!

He sighs out loud, knowing that he will have to wait quite some time until that happens.

In the last few weeks he had grown rather lax when it comes to the pranking business – he managed to blow almost all of his steam off by exploring and attacking the feral Pokémon one finds in Mystery Dungeons, but now… Now, he _really_ wants to prank someone. Chatot would be a good victim. Team Skull would be ideal, of course, but he cannot leave the guild, so… Wigglytuff would be satisfying, too. Bidoof, maybe? Or Loudred?

Not Chimecho, however. She is on his good side. At the moment.

Just like Pearl.

Thinking of Pearl, she is simply lying on her bed, her back turned towards him. She has said nothing since they were… grounded. She also still… smells. She did wash herself – no thanks to Chatot, who just ignored her state, instead Pearl had to make use of the fact that she is, luckily enough, a Water Type – but still, the smell… lingers. It is not as bad as before but, well, it could be better.

Pearl is just lucky that Darkrai actually somewhat adjusted to similar smells due to living in the Dark Crater so often. Where there is volcanic activity, it generally does not reek… great.

But although she is as washed up as she can be, she has not spoken a single word since they were… grounded.

Is she alright? Should he ask? Might she be angry at him for attacking Skuntank? It would not surprise him if she was – Cresselia would always get angry when he attacked someone, no matter his reasons for doing so.

… He could just ask Pearl if she wants to help him plan his prank, if he is already at it. Or maybe she is too good for that? Is pranking considered… evil? He never thought about it at length. It should not be, or else Dareios and he would have been driven out of Trash Town already, most likely.

Besides, Chatot _did_ mention his habit of pranking before Pearl when asked about the nightmares. So it should not be too surprising for her. The least he can do is try and ask her, there should be no harm in it.

“So I have been thinking,” he starts, and when there is no ‘ _Oh, so now you can do it?!’,_ as he knows it from Cresselia, he takes that as a good sign, “And I think that a prank on the guild is really overdue.”

He makes a pause, but Pearl does not say anything. So he continues. “You know, before I found you, I would play them occasionally.”

Still, nothing. Is she that angry? Darkrai hopes not. She has not shouted at him, yet, or told him that he is a malady on the world, so he takes it as a cautiously good sign. She _does_ smell somewhat bad, though, but that is not her fault.

“I have had a few ideas, but none of them are really great. I thought that I might bake biscuits with salt instead of sugar, but unfortunately… I cannot really bake. Besides, who would ever be stupid enough to take a biscuit from the Pokémon everyone knows does not bake? Besides, I have never before offered anyone food, why should they suddenly think me to have good intentions when I do so? No one trusts Ghost Types.” Or Dark Types.

No answer comes from Pearl. Not even a movement which could be interpreted as such. Tough audience.

“Another food related idea was to freeze all the berries for breakfast, so when the others try to eat them, they get a cold surprise, but… I do not know any ice attacks. Besides, knowing the brutes they are, they would most likely just enjoy it.”

Silence. Ugh, this is getting kind of uncomfortable. Not even a ‘They aren’t brutes’? Maybe she… fell asleep? No, then she would have nightmares and he would notice that.

“I was also thinking, I might get some big stones and use them to seal off the access to Wigglytuff’s office while he is at dinner or something similar. But that would require getting out and…”

Argh, wrong direction.

“Well, it is looking like it will start to rain, anyway. I like overcast days, but… I do not like getting wet. So it might be a blessing in disguise that we will have to remain in here, for today. Well.” He stops. He likes monologuing. He loves it, even. But this is… just uncomfortable.

“The last idea I had,” he tries at last, “Was to just leave a small, useless item everywhere whenever no one is looking, and just let them get crazy with the randomly appearing items over time.”

He pauses, waiting for input. Nothing comes.

Well, it was worth—

“The last one sounds like the funniest idea. And it’s the easiest one, too. I mean, if we ask Dareios, he is definitely bound to have something to help with, right? He seems the type to play pranks, too.”

The relief that washes over him as he hears her speaking—

… Is only because she has not suddenly decided to reject him due to a small slip-up, if it can even be called that.

“But that would mean letting Dareios in on the plan.” He states instead of showing his delight at still being considered her friend.

“You think he wouldn’t love to be in on it?”

“… A fair point.”

The dawn of the next day, they are greeted by rain splattering against their window. Well… Darkrai does not like getting doused, that much is true, but it is still better than being confined in the guild.

What is more surprising, however, is the small bundle of Pokémon that enter Pearl and his’ room just after Darkrai can hear Chatot’s daily morning speech end – they were not allowed to join as the last part of their ‘punishment’. This, as far as Darkrai is concerned, is actually no punishment at all, but he did not say so to Chatot.

In any way, just after the speech ends, when he and Pearl prepare to _finally_ leave their room, four others walk in – Bidoof, Sunflora, Chimecho and Diglett. What…?

For what reason could they be doing this? Is this another part of their punishment, previously unmentioned?

“Good morning, Pearl, Duskull!” Sunflora greets, and that greeting gets repeated by everyone but Darkrai. This morning is not good, he has decided, because four annoyances just entered his room, unannounced.

“Morning, everyone,” Pearl answers, and then asks, “Uh, did I miss something?”

“Yeah!” Diglett cries, “You two missed dinner!”

“So we did. What is your point?” Darkrai responds, no idea where this is going.

“Well, uh, we figured you’d be hungry, and besides, it was really mean of Chatot to ground you, so uh…” Bidoof says, and when he inevitably trails off, the small amount of intelligence he possess fleeing him after such a lengthy half-sentence, Chimecho continues, “So each of us put something aside for you, to bring you after we finished. But Chatot forbade us from visiting you yesterday, so we brought it now!”

“Yeah, so here you go!” Sunflora opens her arms, and out tumble various fruits.

Diglett adds a small, “My Dad, Loudred, Corpish and even Croagunk helped to collect for you too!”

Cimecho laughs. “I think Chatot may have noticed what had been going on, but in the end, he did not say anything, so really, dig in!”

“This is-, Everyone, thank you so much!” Pearl cries, and are those tears in here eyes? So many misplaced emotions, how direful.

“It’s the least we can do for you two, yup yup!”

“I mean, without you, these Team Skull idiots would like, never have left and that’d just be eek! Bad eek!”

Darkrai does not agree with the choice of words, but the sentiment he does share.

“Besides, we are all friends! That’s what friends do for each other!” Diglett says, a… grin? on his face. A Diglett’s facial features are not very readable.

But that is beside the point, the point being whatever in the Distortion World’s name Diglett is talking about! Friends? He and them, friends? Oh, he does not wonder that they consider Pearl their friend, but why is _he_ included in that… statement?

“Friends?” he says out loud, about to correct the mistake.

“Y-yeah?” Bidoof answers, cowering beneath Darkrai’s gaze.

“I mean, what else would we be?” Chimecho asks, and, hm, mortal enemies is most likely not the answer they want to hear. Just enemies? A traitor in their midst and sycophants believing themselves to be important to him?

“… Acquaintances,” Darkrai finally decides on.

And suddenly, everyone is laughing. What—

Are they making fun of him?! They are making fun of him!

“Oh, never change, Darcy,” Pearl laughs.

Darkrai does not understand. He is not sure if he wants to understand.

After doing their tasks for their day, visiting Dareios and ensuring his help on their plans, the day ends.

Unfortunately, it ends similar to how it began – with four Pokémon in their room. Why, Darkrai does not know. This is not a _common_ _room_! He does not _care_ if the four consider themselves ‘friends’ or whatever new term they came up during the day. Something about a squid? Squod? He does not _care_!

He does not care whatever inane babble they fill the evening with, he does not care about their attempts at friendliness towards him! He has no reason to be friendly towards them, why do they insist on testing that?!

“I just want to _sleep_ ,” he finally forces out from his bed, pushing his head into it to hopefully cover his ears at least a little. This leads to… a bout of laughter from them.

Darkrai groans.

The next day, he has a good feeling in his stomach – today is going to be a good day. It can only be better, since Pearl and he are ‘allowed’ to join the morning address, and therefore, no Pokémon can go into their room and surprise them with… well, whatever it was they tried to surprise them with, yesterday.

So yes, the day can only be good now that the morning address is over he can leave the guild and—

“Everyone!” Chatot’s grating voice interrupts his thoughts, “I have an announcement before we get down to work.”

Ugh. Sometimes, the bird is really begging to be killed, is he not? What reason does he have to hold them back?

Well, perhaps this is about the Time Gears again. It has been a long while since they were told anything about the theft of one.

“Let me introduce our new allies.”

New allies? What new allies could Chatot mean? As far as Darkrai has gathered, no new Pokémon were in the village who wanted to join the guild, so what is this about? Then again, Darkrai does, against popular believe, not know absolutely everything that goes on in the guild.

But suddenly, a horrible stench fills the room and Darkrai’s… fears the worst. Maybe it will be… There are other Pokémon who do not smell very nice. Muk or Grimer, for example. Or Trubbish and Garbodor. Those smell bad, too.

But alas, it is not to be, as all three members of Team Skull make their way down to them.

“These three are our new partners,” Chatot says, much too chipper. Wigglytuff simply stares off into the distance. What a truly wonderful Guildmaster he is.

Darkrai’s violent tendencies reawaken within a mere second and the good mood he previously found himself in disappears completely.

As the three members of Team Skull introduce themselves to the entire guild, Darkrai cannot help but think that the guild, apparently, lets _anyone_ in that lies about having good intentions.

_(And no, he is not talking about himself, darn it!)_

Not truly listening to Chatot explain how the three Pokémon won’t join them as apprentices, but will still be part of the expedition, Darkrai’s murderous intent rises to a new high. Generally, he does not kill anyone on purpose. There are much better ways to show others their place, and murder… He has done many, many things considered bad, but he still finds himself shying away from killing. He likes to imagine it, likes to torture those caught in his nightmares with images of their many painful deaths, but none of those murders are truly _real_. He might have brought about the collapse of Temporal Tower, leading to the deaths of many Pokémon, but he does not… like to kill directly. But Team Skull…

_He wants to murder them so badly._

Treat them with hospitality, like Chatot asks the guild to do? Not until the Distortion World has become a place without waterfalls.

The only small reprieve he has, the only thing that really stops him from simply jumping those three and killing them is that the rest of the guild seems to share his disgust. Not that he cares about having other Pokémon on his side, but it is nice-, _useful_ to have other Pokémon share his opinion.

Especially when they start voicing their dissatisfaction out loud.

“Eew, how can the Guildmaster stand this?”

“This is really… strange, I mean, is this normal? Can they just join like that?”

“Something about this stinks, literally!”

“I sure hope this expedition ends soon, yup yup…”

“YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!” the Loudred finally yells, his voice being heard clear above all others. Dialga and Palkia could not be louder if they tried. “This STINKS! How do you expect us to be cheerful, when—”

Loudred is interrupted by the building suddenly starting to rumble. An earthquake? Or a Ground Type? No, the second one is rather unlikely, both Diglett and Dugtrio are still next to them, unmoving. So, an earthquake?

But instead of running for cover, Chatot, in obvious panic, turns towards Wigglytuff. Who is looking…

Well. This is certainly strange. His eyes are scrunched up (Darkrai has never even seen him blink, he was honestly doubting that Wigglytuff had eyelids at all) and he is shaking, as if… angry?

And Chatot sounds awfully upset. “No! Guildmaster, please, everything is alright!” he cries, and when Wigglytuff does not react to his words, he turns towards the rest of the guild, horrified, “His rage is building! If he gets angry… it will be horrific!”

What. But… The Wigglytuff is just an ordinary Pokémon! He should not be able to—

“ _Horrific_! Everyone! Come on! Be cheerful, even if it hurts!” Chatot cries, and then, as if the world is not literally shaking around them, puts on a mask of happiness and cries, “Let’s get down to today’s work, everyone!”

He cannot force Darkrai to be happy! If he wants to be annoyed, he will be annoyed, and no one can stop him! And if he wants to be murderous, then so be it. A raging Wigglytuff will not stop him from that!

As Chatot _and_ Pearl send him murderous glares, he decides that he is suddenly feeling incredibly happy, for no reason whatsoever. For one time in his life, he joins the cacophonous shout of “Hooray!”

The earth stills. The day continues as if nothing ever happened.

“It just… does not make any sense, whatsoever!”

“As you’ve said, like, ten times now,” Pearl answers, sounding incredibly bored. So what if he has been ranting since they entered the Dungeon? He has every right to do so!

“I just don’t understand how a simple Normal- Fairy Type could bring a whole building to shake!”

“Yeah, that you’ve said only… seven times, I think.”

Darkrai ignores her and her attitude. “There is no attack that would have that effect, at least none that Wigglytuff could’ve ever learnt! And don’t try to tell me that it was Frustration, just incredibly strong. No Pokémon’s Frustration makes the earth rumble!”

“I get it, Darcy. It makes no sense, you have no idea how it happened. Can we just… concentrate on our job, now?”

“But it doesn’t make any sense!”

Pearl sighs, loudly. “And that’s number eleven.”

As they lie in their beds, the jobs and conversations over for today, both about to fall asleep, Darkrai cannot help himself but mumble, “It just… doesn’t make any sense, at all.”

Pearl groans.

It is on the next day that they get sent on a mission to collect food to replenish the guild’s larder with. Darkrai cannot help but share a gaze with Pearl that says, ‘Oh, so the guild takes the money so they can feed us? With the food we now have to gather ourselves?’

He is not sure if Pearl understands the exact words, but she definitely gets the intended meaning, as she rolls her eyes and sighs in exasperation.

“Since the food stock dropped sharply all of a sudden, it is of the utmost importance that you bring back enough, do you understand?”

“Of course we do.” The stock drops suddenly, just after Team Skull joins them? How mysterious. They certainly could not ever have had anything to do with it, definitely. It must be a simple coincidence.

“Good, good. The others are also gathering different things, you know, but your job might just be the most important.”

“Why? I mean, apples are great,” Pearl hastily explains herself, “But we could live a day without apples, could we not? Not that we will fail!”

“I am sure that all of us could,” Chatot says, and then, sighs, heavily. “But the Guildmaster…” He trails off. “You _need_ to return with as many Perfect Apples as you can, do you understand? If the Guildmaster does not have any Perfect Apples, he would, he w-w-w-would, w-well, the G-Guildmaster w-w-would—”

“Would _what_?”

Chatot squeeks. “So, anyways, make sure to bring them with you! I am begging you! Even if it costs… well, even if it costs you everything! You _must_ bring back Perfect Apples.”

Chatot does not elaborate any more after that, too shaken from whatever he saw happening before his inner eye.

Really, what is up with Wigglytuff?

Now, Darkrai has always… had some amount of… _respect_ , if one could call it that, for Guildmaster Wigglytuff. He does not like the Pokémon – rather the opposite, he positively despises him – but he would not engage him in a fight without some backup.

He does not fear him, of course!

He just… would not want to run into him in a dark alley after Darkrai did something… illicit. Wigglytuff has a reputation for everyone on the wrong side of the law, and it is… Well.

So he decides to get these Perfect Apples, whatever it takes.

The Dungeon at the end of which Perfect Apples can be found is aptly named ‘Apple Woods’. Very creative. Unfortunately for Pearl, mostly Grass Types dwell there, what with it being a lush forest. Now, if she was fully evolved, this would not be as much of a problem, but alas, she is not. And from some of the rumours he has heard about Luminous Spring being useless at the moment, she will have to remain this way, at least until she has taken care of his past self.

She is lucky that she has him, then. Oh, the many things he does to keep her believing that he is her friend and always looking out for her. Although he has to admit, there is a certain annoyance that comes with posing as a Duskull: He can no longer use his favourite attack, Dark Void.

He had to adjust his whole moveset and now mainly relies on Ominous Wind and Dark Pulse, and an occasional Double Team, which is, unfortunately, not an offensive attack. So Ominous Wind and Dark Pulse it is, since he refuses to attack any of the feral Pokémon with his _claws_. If he started doing so, he could just cut off his hand and be done with it.

Anyways, due to his prowess at fighting, they reach the deepest part of the woods in good time, and there it is, the elder tree on which the Perfect Apples grow. Chatot did describe to them what to look for, at least. Just as the bird told them, the tree is easily told apart from all other trees because, for one, it is at the end of the Dungeon, secondly, it is at the centre of a clearing, and thirdly, it must be at least 300 years old, an extraordinary age for an apple tree which is quite visible. It would explain why the Perfect Apples only grow on this one tree.

Perhaps once Darkrai has created a world of darkness, he should find a way to destroy it, just so that Wigglytuff will do whatever Chatot fears will happen if there are no Perfect Apples to be found. A thought for another time. For now, he marvels at the tree. The roots alone are bigger than Darkrai at certain parts!

Which, unfortunately, means that the foliage and with it, the apples, are rather high up – most ordinary Pokémon would most likely have to scale the tree. Pokémon like Pearl, for example.

Who looks at the apples, then at him. “Darcy, do you think you could simply… float up there and take them?”

He scoffs. “Floating is not the same as flying, Pearl.”

“Oh.” She sounds disappointed.

“But yes, theoretically I can still reach this height. With a mix of jumping and floating.” One of the situations where it comes in rather handy to have legs. Or leg-y? He groans out loud. That one was so bad, he would definitely deserve to be killed in this moment.

Well, the moment has passed, thankfully, and now he can continue living while ignoring he ever thought of a pun that bad.

“Oh!” And now, she sounds delighted.

Loud laughter interrupts their conversation and ugh, what is with that sudden horrible smell?!

“You can’t float if you’re knocked out!”

And jumping out of the tree’s foliage, Skuntank and his cronies land in front of them. That was… unnecessary. Really unnecessary.

“Was it not complicated to get so high up in this tree? Whyever would you do that? Since when have you even been waiting for us?” he asks, askance.

“That’s what we wanted to ask you, what took you so long?” Zubat asks back (and completely ignores two thirds of his questions), and Koffing adds, “We’ve been having us a picnic of Perfect Apples while waiting for you to show up.”

“You did _what_?” Darkrai screeches, anger starting to take over. He did not want to meet those idiots today! He did not want to ever meet them at all! And now they openly admit to eating the apples he has come to gather, the apples that keep Wigglytuff from… completely breaking all laws of time and space?!

Koffing laughs. “You took so long, I stuffed myself!” Then, he burbs.

Disgusting. He will kill them. He will kill them, no matter if Pearl will see it, no matter if it means murdering someone else. He will kill them, and he will _laugh_ while doing so.

“So you ate them?” he asks, ice creeping into his voice, “What direful behaviour – but luckily for you, it should not be a problem – after all, I know how to gut idiots like you.”

The following silence makes him realize that this threat… may have just been… a little excessive. Or a lot, if he has to be completely honest with himself. He does not even know how to properly gut someone! But he _wants_ to.

The silence grows, and grows, and grows even longer, until that ‘Chief’ of theirs finally comes up with an answer. “Gut us? That’s so very rude of you! Why, I was even going to offer my help for your mission.”

“Help? I’m a little lost by what you mean with ‘Help’,” Pearl inserts herself in the conversation, her tone a mocking echo of the one Zubat used before. “Help in the form of eating them? Or help by trying to beat us up?”

Skuntank mockingly shakes his head, and then says, “No, getting them from the tree, of course. Look.”

With that, the foul-smelling Pokémon walks towards the tree and starts batting his head against it, until – lo and behold – a few apples truly fall down. If it had even a single brain cell left before, it is surely gone after this. Not to mention how truly inefficient it is to get the apples down this way – now they will simply bruise in the next few days, and then Chatot will send them to gather apples, _again_ , and Darkrai hates having to do work like this.

“Go on, now.” Skuntank grins. “Scoop up those Perfect Apples and scuttle back to the guild.” Then, he laughs. His cronies join in.

Darkrai shares a look with Pearl. That smells fishy, and not only because their… _companions_ could use a bath. Nobody moves.

“Hm? What’s the matter? Aren’t you going to pick them up?” Skuntank jeers. The words sound like a threat, and Darkrai is entirely sure that they are intended to be just that.

“No,” he therefore answers.

“After I was so nice to help you pick them?” This mockenly-sweet tone is _annoying_.

“Please, I would be able to see that this is a trap if I was a Deino.”

That stops the three of them in their tracks and they turn to each other.

“Well, colour me surprised!” Zubat yelps, “They didn’t fall for it at all!”

_Excuse you, he’s the master behind all that is vile and evil, he sees through every evil plot! Especially ones as poorly executed as this one!_

“Well, it’s a little disappointing that you didn’t fall for our act,…” Skuntank mumbles, as if to himself, and then continues, louder, “But so what? What are you gonna do about it?” He raises one of his eyebrows. At least Darkrai thinks so, it is hard to tell what is under that tail.

“Fight you, of course,” he answers, confident, “I have been itching to beat you up a second time for quite some time now. And Pearl, after all, needs some more training. You idiots will be good enough for that, at least.”

“Oh, I don’t think so!” Skuntank throws back. “Because I don’t think you‘ll be in any state to fight us after our noxious gas combo!”

As soon as Darkrai sees Koffing take the necessary breath, and Skuntank turn around as to face them with his _behind,_ for whatever it is they are planning, Darkrai has already sunken into the shadows in a panic.

Normally, of course, he’d use Ominous Wind, but he has drained the attack to its limit, trying to keep Pearl save on their way through the Mystery Dungeon. If he was to try and use it just once more, he would black out, which would not be optimal.

And sinking into the shadows… well, it might not have been his best idea, in hindsight.

Generally, it is a somewhat useful skill he has had ever since the day he came into existence. But if he gets hit by an attack, he gets forced out of the shadows immediately. If someone would just step on him, he wouldn’t be able to move away. And if an attack hits, they hurt him more than they would normally do. He does not even know if it will ruin his illusion and turn him back into his original form.

But, and that is most important thing at the moment, it gets hard to notice him and easy to get away.

So he dashes far, _far_ away from the poisonous gas released by the idiots, feeling only a little bad about leaving Pearl behind – but what could he have done? At least one of them gets the chance to still beat them up!

As he carefully rises out of the shadows on the backside of the elder tree, he notices that, unfortunately, the illusion is gone. Which is sub-optimal. He will have to recreate it, fast, which is also sub-optimal, because the illusion is not _meant_ to be recreated fast!

Well, thinking in a pattern of ‘Woe is me’ does not help – instead, he concentrates on recreating the illusion.

On the other side of the tree, he can hear the members of Team Skull laughing. Which means that they are still conscious, which means that he still has the chance to beat them up.

Koffing is still laughing in his deep voice while Skuntank has already stopped, obviously realizing that there is only _one_ member of Team Sky lying on the ground, unconscious.

“Where’s the other one?!” he shouts, and oh, is there a little panic slipping into his voice? Cute.

“Well, if that is not the mystery of the century,” Darkrai answers after a short pause, needed to fully assume his illusion again. He floats out from behind the tree and continues, “I will admit, that was quite a nice idea. But now, it is my turn.” He cannot keep the schadenfreude out of his voice as he adds, “And the best thing is… that no one will believe you what is about to happen.”

And with those words spoken, he uses Dark Void and plunges them into his world of nightmares.

Zubat is lucky, because fainted Pokémon are immune to his nightmares, but the other two? They do not even have the chance to avoid the attack and are soon writhing on the ground asleep and in fear.

_Delightful_.

He has missed this. Murder is still not his style, it seems, because as angry as he was before, seeing them living through their worst fears is still funnier.

… Perhaps he _should_ kill them. The chance is… right before him.

They are defenceless right now. No one would know that they went here, and besides, he could hide their bodies amongst the shrubbery surrounding the clearing. Some feral Pokémon would get rid of the bodies, most certainly. And he guesses that no one knows that Skuntank and his cronies went into the forest – no, this seems like an impulsive decision on their part. They most likely overheard Chatot handing out assignments and decided to attack Pearl and him for some obtuse reason.

So… it would be a perfect crime, would it not? No one would be able to trace it back to him.

Well, except for Pearl. She would… notice that their three adversaries did not return to the guild. But he could just tell her that he gave them such a good beating that they ran away, forever.

He stares at their motionless forms. No one to mourn them, no one to search for them, no one to even notice them missing. And it would just take a little help on his part.

He could be rid of them _forever_.

And they can do nothing to stop him.

It would be so _easy_.

…

… easy, huh.

He huffs. It would be a waste of his energy, that is what it would be. They are not wort it, in the end. Besides, if they stay alive, they will be there to realize who he truly is, and after that, he can force them into endless nightmares. That is much more his style, after all.

Decision made, he stares at Pearl, who is still knocked out. Most likely will be, for the foreseeable future. And _ugh,_ she _stinks_.

… He concentrates on getting the apples off the ground and into the bag, first. That is probably easiest to do. He is already carrying the bag, after all. As he always does. Wait, why does it always have to be him? Sure, he is stronger, but that is no excuse to just use him as a… as a… a pack Mudbray! He is a god amongst Pokémon, he should not be mistreated like that!

… He sighs. It does not matter at the moment, anyway – Pearl won’t be able to carry herself and the bag as long as she is asleep. Fainted. Whatever. He has had a long day already.

For good measure, he also jumps up to get a few more apples – it really would not do for Chatot do send them again in a few days time. If he has any choice, he will never return to this wretched Dungeon.

And then, finally, the bag is filled to the brim, and Pearl is still unconscious.

That just raises the question anew of how he is supposed to carry her – he is not in the mood to just sit here and wait until she wakes up, after all. Especially since that would mean that Team Skull could maybe also wake up, and, well. He is feeling drained, if he has to be honest – maybe the re-applying of the illusion took more out of him than he noticed at first, and paired with everything that has happened today, is it a wonder that he does not feel up to any more fighting?

He sighs. It would be easiest to simply carry Pearl, then – under the illusion, he is still the same Pokémon, so he has the size and strength to do so. But he does not _want_ to. He hates touching other Pokémon, and carrying them is just a very long, very drawn out touching-process. If he carries her now, he will have to thoroughly wash himself once he arrives in Trash Town, and he will still feel disgusting afterwards.

Should he simply drag her over the ground? No, she would notice he did that later, which would lead to questions he does not plan on answering.

He groans. Whatever he needs to do to keep his plan alive, huh?

As they are almost out of the woods, Pearl suddenly stirs, and Darkrai drops her like a stone in sudden surprise. And maybe also relief, of finally being able to let go of her.

“Urgh…” She groans, then she starts coughing. Probably still the after-effects of their foes’ attack. She still stinks, unfortunately.

“Darcy…?” Her voice is a little hoarse.

“I’m here. We are almost out of the Apple Woods, but we should hurry if we don’t-, do not want those thugs to catch us before we reach the guild.”

“How did we get… here…?”

“I carried you. But it’s-, it is good you woke up, I am really not strong enough to carry you the whole way.”

He _does not want_ to carry her the whole way. His body already feels disgusting all over, and if he could just chop off every piece of him that had to touch her, he would do so, probably. He _loathes_ physical contact of any kind. Even the moveset he is currently using was created so none of his attacks need him touching anyone! _All_ of his movesets are created with that thought in mind!

“Oh, thank you… Did you knock them out?” Pearl’s voice shakes him out of his thoughts, but not the feeling. He wants to… burn himself. Drown himself. Anything to get rid of the feeling of lingering touch. Phantom touch.

He visibly shakes himself to finally get his bearings together. “I did,” he finally answers, and then he is unsure about what else to say. He has… lost whatever this conversation was ever about.

“Hey, is everything alright?” Pearl asks him, always so considerate, always so _perceptive_.

“Yes, of course,” he answers. “I simply want to get back to Trash Town and bathe myself.”

Finally, Pearl stumbles to her feet, still looking a little disoriented. “That’s actually a good idea. Ugh, that attack was _disgusting_. How did you even stay conscious through it? Do you know any evasive attacks? Even the lingering smell on myself makes me want to curl up and die. But are you really okay? You just sound… distraught. You don’t have to talk about it, of course.”

“Too many questions, Pearl,” he sighs and massages his temples. His head is pounding, the feeling starting right behind his eye and following the lines of the scars on his face; he is having difficulties concentrating on even listening to her; he needs to wash himself; needs to get some time alone; needs to… to…

He takes a deep breath. He is _not_ having a breakdown now. Not over simply having to carry another Pokémon on his back. He was fine before, after all. Just because she is now awake does not mean that he should suddenly feel worse.

( _He should not. But he_ **does**.)

“Okay, sorry, sorry. Was the fight hard? Like, is that why you seem so… through the wind?”

“It was not hard. There was not much of a fight, really - I didn’t-, I mean, I did not get caught in the attack, I fled by using-“ Blast it, he can’t say ‘my ability to travel as a shadow’… he could… tweak it a little, surely, “Shadow Sneak. Once I got behind them, it was already basically-, well, it was almost over.”

“You know Shadow Sneak?” she asks, and always so _perceptive_. Always so… He needs to answer.

“I do.” That must count. He just-, just wants this conversation to be over. Wants the day to be over.

“That’s cool!” she says, keeping the blasted conversation alive even longer, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use it before.”

He shrugs (obviously with the help of his arms, Duskull still haven’t grown any notable shoulders). He needs… water. He needs to wash himself. He adds, “It’s not my strongest attack, I don’t need it too often.”

“Ah, yeah, that makes sense… Hey, Darcy?” Pearl’s tone shifts at the end, making him look at her directly.

“Yes?” he asks. Her eyes seem bigger than before and there’s a smile on her face.

“You are honestly really strong. I’m really happy that you are my friend.”

… It’s true, obviously, but, “There are Pokémon… stronger than me.” There is no real shame in admitting it. He isn’t so bullheaded to let himself believe he would be the strongest Pokémon, (unlike many others he knows).

“Yeah, but we haven’t met any of them yet, have we? So, it’s really cool how strong you are. And how you always watch out for me, I’m… really thankful for that, you know that, yeah?”

What is this? Is she trying to endear herself to him through compliments? Because it definitely isn’t working even in the slightest.

Or… is she trying to distract him, from this disgusting feeling that is… slowly ebbing away. Oh, it will stay much longer, he knows. But it… if she was truly trying to distract him, it worked. Slightly. He will at least not have a breakdown, right now.

He takes a deep breath. Should he…thank her? He won’t. Still, an answer…

“I appreciate your words.”

He doesn’t. Of course, he does not. Why should he?

He must be… exhausted and disgusted and the day has been too long. So what if she took his mind off of it for a few precious seconds? It does not _matter_. He does not _care_.

“It’s just the truth.” She smiles. “If I could just get half as strong as you are, I’m sure such an attack wouldn’t make me black out anymore!”

Wait, is she… Maybe not trying to distract him, but rather herself? “Are you feeling bad because you got knocked out?”

“What? I’m-, Of course not-, I wouldn’t—” She interrupts herself with a deep sigh. “Yeah. A little bit. I know that those guys played unfair, okay? It’s just… really, really stupid to be unconscious the whole fight.”

“Hm. I think I understand that.” He moves to float again and Pearl follows him eagerly. He wants the conversation to be over, of course, but since she needs someone to talk with her and he is her best friend… Well, he can at least give her some advise for the future.

“Do you know what I would advise you in such situations?”

“Yeah, yeah” she groans and rolls her eyes, “Train more, become stronger, faster, better, yadda yadd—"

“No,” he cuts her off, and she stares at him, in obvious surprise. “If you find yourself against enemies that are stronger than you… play dirty.”

“… What.” She stares at him with wide eyes, then visibly shakes herself out of whatever stupor she just found herself in. “No, let me rephrase that question: What in the name of—"

“Language, Pearl. And I meant what I said, as I always do. Don’t-, Do not give your enemies as many turns as they would normally deserve. Attack them from behind, use every little advantage you have against them, even if it would be considered dishonourable. If you throw sand into their eyes to blind them temporarily, so be it. If you hit them in the knees to make them fall down, it is their fault for not paying enough attention. After all, a fight won without honour is still a fight you won.”

“… I’m pretty sure the guild wouldn’t agree with you, Darcy.” She doesn’t say that she would not agree with him, though. He takes that as a win.

“The same guild that takes 90% of our income? That is playing dirty, too. They do not need that much.”

Pearl sighs, and smiles. “Maybe you are right. Next time, I’ll try, yeah?”

“I would not demand more of you.”

As they arrive at the guild, their topic of conversation has obviously shifted from ‘Darkrai teaching Pearl all the ways one can win a fight against much stronger enemies’ and Pearl taking notes on this, to something safer.

They make a detour to the ocean before this, of course – Darkrai can finally get the _feeling_ off (or rather, weaken it to an endurable degree) and… it helps. Somewhat. He still wants this day to be _over_ already, even if it means letting himself have another round of nightmares but.. anything to finally get to the next day.

Of course the seawater leaves some salt on his skin, which is uncomfortable in its own way but still… better. Almost everything is better.

Besides, if he had to smell Pearl much longer, he would have attacked her, at some point. He can stomach many smells, but there comes a point at which he decides that pretending to be friends is just not worth it.

Chatot is already waiting for them and Darkrai happily hands over the apples. Too much ado about apples, in his opinion.

“Wonderful, just splendid!” Chatot crows, looking through the bag and ugh, his voice is grating on Darkrai’s ears. “But next time, only take the ripe apples, yes?”

Darkrai stares at the bag of apples. What is Chatot talking about? There are no unripe apples in it. He made sure of it.

“Uh, we thought they could ripen at the guild!” Pearl says, and what is she talking about? There are _no unripe apples_! The two of them are making fun of him, are they not? Ugh. This day is horrible.

“Unfortunately, they never do,” Chatot answers, “But I do appreciate the thought. In any way, you two did a splendid job! That deserves a reward – for the rest of the day, you may do whatever you like!”

Wonderful. As if they do not get exactly the same reward every day they finish a job early—

Alright, that is not completely true. Sometimes if they return very early, they have to help at some of the miscellaneous tasks that accrue every day. Like plucking some of the overzealous flowers. Or dusting parts of the guild.

Therefore, as a habit, Pearl and Darcy would always only return after those tasks were already taken care of by others.

So, admittedly, having some time of sounds good. Pearl runs off in the search for some of her other friends, and Darkrai retreats into their room. He just needs silence, for a while. Silence, and no one who could touch him.

Much too soon, the afternoon has passed and dinnertime is soon to come. Pearl came into the room a little earlier to get Darkrai, who followed her out – it’s loud, but the time alone did help, a little. But still, there is still one thing to take care of, that being Skuntank and his henchmen, of course.

They did not tell Chatot about their attack, because for one, Chatot believing them is quite uncommon, and also, Darkrai _did_ attack Team Skull. Not unprompted, of course, but if he has realized one thing about Skuntank, then it is that their enemy would be smart enough to spin a tale that would then paint them in a bad light.

Shortly before dinnertime arrives, their three nemeses do to. Darkrai and Pearl waited outside for them, just next to Wigglytuff’s office, so that any… unsolved threads can be put to rest.

“Good evening!” Pearl cries out to them as they make their way down, drawing attention towards herself and Darkrai. There is a mocking smile on her face-, oh, for anyone who does not know her, it would seem honest. She would _really_ make a great partner in crime.

Zubat visibly flinches in shock at her words, and Koffing lets go of a faintly disgusting-smelling cloud.

Idiots.

“Good evening to you, too,” Skuntank answers, not yet acting on his very obvious anger. He has to hold back, after all, there are a few more Pokémon in the hall.

“It is quite convenient that you just arrived, Team Skull,” Darkrai starts, “There is a little something I would like to talk to you about. If you could just follow us over here, where we cannot be overheard…” He floats over to the entrance of the Guildmaster’s office. The door is closed, luckily, but Wigglytuff is asleep, anyway. Faint snoring can be heard through the door.

“Of course, we’d _love_ to be of help.” The way Skuntank pronounces the ‘love’ makes it clear what he truly thinks about it.

Once all of them are situated under the window right next to the door, Darkrai starts.

“You know, my partner and I had a peaceful day today – we collected some Perfect Apples and were lucky enough not to run into any trouble.” He looks Skuntank directly in the eyes, trying to tell him that ‘One hand washes the other’. Or, well, one ghostly appendage washes the other paw.

“Oh, did you? That sounds great for you. My friends and I had a slightly more _exhausting_ day. We were attacked by some Pokémon. Maybe we should tell Chatot about it, so that others do not get into danger.” _Oh, and why should we not just tell that you attacked us?_

“That sounds strenuous. Did you wander into a Dungeon that was not fit for you? As I said, the one we were in today was rather safe.” _Because you were not where you were supposed to be and still, we did not tattle on you._

“Ah, something of the sort, I guess,” Skuntank admits, followed by a fake laugh. “But it’s no problem, next time we get in a similar situation, we’ll make sure to dispose of our attackers in a deserving kind.” _We’ll keep silent, this time. Revenge is, however, already, in preparation._

“Then I wish you all the luck Jirachi could gift. Maybe it will help you.” _Just you try._

And... that is the end of it, for today. Chimecho calls them for dinner, they part ways and no more words are spoken for the remainder of the day. Pearl only whispers in his ear, wherever that may be, “That was so cool!” and then, the day finally ends.

Caught up in his nightmares of touching, being touched, not being let go off, too close, everyone’s _too close, his skin is crawling_ —

Darkrai does not sleep well, tonight. He wonders if he should have just stayed awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this concludes the double update! I hope you enjoyed the chapters, and thank you for the new kudos!
> 
> The next chapter will be posted on the Kalends of March, I wish you all the best until then!


	7. Overcrowded List, Lake shrouded in mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter: After a rather unfortunate encounter with Koffing, Zubat and their leader, Skuntank, Pearl and Darkrai ended up being grounded. Even worse, the three members of Team Skull became temporary members of the guild. At least Darkrai had the chance to knock them out on a following assignment to gather some Perfect Apples, something they carried out successfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something of a filler chapter, but then again, you do need to fill almost everything so that it works. Also, Darkrai's in a bad mood, but he's not gonna admit that.

“Hey, Darcy?”

For a second, he thinks of acting as if he did not hear her, but in the end decides against it. There is no reason to antagonize her, currently. “Yes?”

“What do you think our chances of joining the expedition are?” Pearl finally asks – and ah, yes, she finally asks. The question had been a long time coming, to be honest. Yesterday and even ereyesterday, Pearl had seemed about to speak it, but always ended up deciding against it, for whatever contrite reason she came up with. At least Darkrai thinks that this is what she did, he cannot read thoughts.

He can only read open intentions, of which Pearl has many.

And today, she seems to finally have gathered up enough courage.

How unfortunate, then, that it is just so inane. Darkrai does not even want to answer, but alas, he has to, since he already ignored too many of her questions today. The least he can do is not look at her while doing so. No, instead he stares at the food in his hands – it tastes somewhat dry, but it still beats the sour apple he had at breakfast today.

He bought the food – some type of pastry, most likely – from a Carracosta which recently opened a booth at Trash Town, and even if it is not perfect, he might buy there again. The guild’s diet is rather one sided, what with it always just being fruit, berries and the occasional gummies. And sure, those are alright, but not all the time. Besides, it is still too early for the official dinner, anyways.

“Come on, don’t ignore me, that wasn’t a joke-question or anything! I’m really wondering. I mean, we’ve been doing good with our jobs, right? So, they should have a reason to choose us! But maybe the others have been doing better…”

“I doubt it,” Darkrai answers, “But I think it depends on who chooses the Pokémon to join. If it is Chatot, then we are not very likely to be chosen, I believe – in case you had not noticed, he does not like me very much—”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you or anything, he’s just—”

“A biased, prejudiced Pokémon, yes. However—”

“That’s not what I was going to say!”

“ _However_ ,” Darkrai repeats, “If Wigglytuff chooses, then really, anything could happen. He might just put all names into a hat and then draw three. I would not even put it past him to only choose one of the Perfect Apples he oh-so-loves as a travelling companion.”

“You can be really mean, do you know that, Darcy?” Pearl huffs, crossing her flippers. It does not help her look dignified in any way, seeing as she is sitting on a tree stump at a small clearing just to the north of Trash Town. Well, the clearing is not what makes her seem undignified, of course, and neither is the stump, but the entire gesture, paired with her small form… Well.

Finally, he answers. “I have been told before. As a matter of principle, I do not agree.”

She pouts. Darkrai ignores her and instead continues to eat his meal.

“There’s also… Do you think Team Skull will try anything, soon? Like, they always shoot us these angry glances at dinner or when we see them at the job board, but they haven’t done anything yet. But they are definitely _planning_ something.”

“Of course they are planning something. All self-proclaimed villains are constantly planning something.” He is also planning something, but he is not a self-proclaimed villain. Oh no, he has been proclaimed by many others, already, but just as with the claim of him being mean, he disagrees.

“Well, yeah, I got that far myself, you know? But do you have any idea _what_ they might be planning? Or when they want to get revenge?”

Darkrai shrugs. “Who am I to see into the minds of brutes? If they even possess them.”

Pearl laughs, and then turns the sound into a fake cough. “That’s mean!”

“As mean as knocking you out in the Apple Woods? No? I did not think so.”

Pearl huffs. “Yeah, that was downright scummy. But still, do you have no idea? At all?”

Darkrai shakes his head, then, nods, deciding that he might have an inkling of an idea, after all. “Well, nothing specific. But it will most certainly involve violence, since they tend to believe that they are able to win in a fight against me-, us, for some peculiar reason.”

“Yeah…” Pearl sighs and then stares up at the sky, for whatever reason. Maybe she is trying to blind herself, who knows. The sun is certainly blazing strong enough for it. One would not have been able to guess that, technically, autumn has already begun.

“In the end, only time will tell what they plan to do,” Darkrai ends his statement and eats the last bite of his pastry.

“Yeah… Unless more Time Gears get stolen and it stops!” Pearl adds, and then she laughs. Was that a joke? It must have been. She would not just remember something and _not_ tell him, right? Right. She trusts him. She must do so. So, a joke, then.

Apparently, she thinks that him not laughing means that her little joke was not appreciated.

“Not funny? Sorry… I don’t really know what’s okay to joke about and what’s not, yet.”

“It was alright. Do not say something like that in front of Chatot, though.”

“Do you think I want to _die_? I wouldn’t even _think_ of doing so, don’t worry!”

“Hey, Darcy, if he takes even more time looking at that paper, we might have to steal a Time Gear,” Pearl whispers to him.

“What was that about you not wanting to die, yesterday?” he whispers back, raising an eyebrow, not that she can see it.

“Well, he’s not listening, is he? Besides, everyone’s chatting, still, so—"

Chatot loudly clears his throat. Finally, the noise the guild’s members had been making dies down, but the excitement is still very palpable. Because of course, everyone wants to be chosen for the expedition – except for Darkrai, most likely.

And since today, they will set out, Chatot will finally read out the names that Wigglytuff wrote out on a paper. That Wigglytuff can even write is honestly surprising.

In any way, since he wrote a list means that Chatot will read it out loud, and since the bird just cleared his throat, he is very likely to do so—

“Without further ado, I will announce those who’ve been chosen,” the bird cries.

-now. And just like that, he starts reading out the names.

“Our first member for the expedition will be… Loudred!”

While the Pokémon erupts in very, very loud cheers, Darkrai decides that he is now _really_ hoping that he does not get chosen. No matter how many nightmares the guild’s members have, Loudred just seems to be getting _louder_ with every day. Even worse, he shows a certain arrogance at being chosen first – claiming that it was _only natural_. As if he is that special.

_(Please, the loudness of your voice is the only thing that sets you apart from the others in skill. Even Bidoof is probably a better explorer.)_

“Then, next up, it’s Corpish!” Chatot calls, and to be entirely honest, Darkrai knows next to nothing about the Pokémon. He might as well deserve it. Or he might not. It is just a stupid excursion for even stupider Pokémon. There is no use in getting invested in it or analysing it in detail. Really, one year from now, he will most likely have taken his revenge, anyways, and then, he will not even need to remember this.

“Next is… Oh, what’s this?” Chatot seems surprised by whatever he just read, which gets ascertained when he exclaims, “Well, this is a surprise! Our next member is Bidoof!”

Well, this is certainly… a _surprise_ , although Chatot phrasing it in such a way seems somewhat wrong to Darkrai. Should the bird not care much more for the emotions of the guild’s members? But then again, does Darkrai care for Bidoof’s feelings? Of course he does not. Besides, if Loudred was chosen, why not the other useless member of the guild?

Moreover, Darkrai cannot forget that it was Wigglytuff who made the list. Obviously, it is therefore going to be full of stupid decisions. If it had been him, there would have been much less Pokémon.

… He would just take Pearl with him. She is the only one not too bothersome. And maybe Dareios, if the other would be willing and allowed to join – he is not part of the guild, after all. Which is not really an excuse, seeing as Team Skull could join in, but who cares. Not Darkrai.

Bidoof tearing up at his selection is rather shameful, though.

“And the last ones on the list,” Chatot continues after Bidoof gets his emotions in check again – as much as he can, at least, “Are Sunflora and Chimecho! And there we have the expedition party members!”

…

That’s it…? Well. Darkrai does not want to go on the excursion, of course, but _both_ Loudred and Bidoof being chosen over him? It leaves a strange taste in his mouth.

In front of him, Pearl visibly deflates. If there were not as many Pokémon here, he would tell her that he will just go to wherever the guild has chosen to go, just the two of them. Maybe later, then. Being a good friend entails doing nice things for others, after all.

“Chatot, you’re missing something!” Wigglytuff cries, which might be the first thing Darkrai has ever heard him say during a morning assembly.

“I-I am?” the bird asks in obvious shock, and then, mumbles, “Wait, what’s this?” as he turns the paper around. “Erm… Well… It… It appears that there are even more expedition members. The others are… Diglett, Dugtrio, Croagunk, Duskull and Piplup. That is all.”

Silence.

“Wait, what?! Whaaat?!” Chatot shouts out loud, and on this, Darkrai can for once agree with him.

That is just… the whole guild, is it not? Then why even write a list?! Ugh, he will never understand that wretched Wigglytuff.

Chatot, meanwhile, starts to have a meltdown over it. “But-But Guildmaster! The list includes… everyone!”

“Yup, that’s right! It’s much more fun like this!”

“But then, the whole selection process was meaningless! And moreover, if everyone goes on the excursion, the guild will be left empty!”

Wigglytuff, for once surprisingly present in mind, smiles benignly, and says, “It’ll be fine. We’ll lock up properly!”

… Which would still allow Pokémon with the ability to walk through walls to… well, do just that. Wigglytuff really is made up more of simple stupidity than coherent thoughts, is he not? Maybe Darkrai should sneak back in and look if there is anything that is worthwhile to steal – just to teach Wigglytuff a lesson, of course. And to steal, obviously.

“Guildmaster, I also have some misgivings,” Skuntank speaks up from the side, and what does that bothersome being want now? And why should Wigglytuff even listen? If Darkrai was the Guildmaster-, well, he would not have allowed Skuntank and his cronies into his guild, in the first place. Unaware of Darkrai’s thought, Skuntank continues to speak. “Do you think perhaps we may have too many members for an expedition?”

Sure, he is right, but Darkrai will not agree with him. So what if they will be more than a dozen Pokémon? That is none of Skuntank’s business.

“Hmm…” Wigglytuff hums, a curious tilt to his voice, “When a friend asks something like that, I have to wonder why…”

Darkrai is not completely sure, but it seems as if Wigglytuff is almost _testing_ Skuntank. But that could not be… or could it? There is a reason why Wigglytuff is feared amongst outlaws, and it is not because he is simply bothersome. But… one can be strong in fight and weak in thought.

“I mean, first of all, why does everyone have to go? What’s the point in that?” Skuntank huffs, which leads to Wigglytuff suddenly brightening visibly.

“Of course there is a point!” the pink Pokémon objects, “If everyone went, it would be more fun! We’ll be noisy and excited and having fun! I started thinking about it, and it made me so excited, I couldn’t sleep!” His eyes have now reached a never before seen size – and really, how much of his body _is_ made up of his eyes? Entirely too much, if one asks Darkrai.

But obviously, nobody asks for his opinion, as usual.

“Well… since that’s settled,” Chatot sighs, “Everyone, please get prepared to embark on the expedition. Some of you might need to visit the town, so do that now, because in one hour, we will embark. And we won’t wait for any stragglers! So with that having been said, scram!” Chatot ends his short monologue with a crow, and then, he and the Guildmaster head into the office – most likely to prepare, as well.

Team Skull, luckily, also disappear. Most likely, they will be there in time for the excursion. Unfortunately. Maybe Darkrai should… _arrange_ for them to be unable to join in time. But Chatot’s threat was most likely empty, and then… Well, he does not want to get into too much trouble. Especially not for attacking some ‘fellow adventurers’.

He starts to make his way over when suddenly, he feels someone pulling on his bag. He turns around swiftly, prepared to attack whoever dared to—

It is only Pearl. Of course it is only Pearl. Who else would it be, really?

“Uhhh…” she starts when he simply stares at her, “The others are making a circle?”

Darkrai turns his stare from her to ‘the others’, and it turns out that Pearl was right – all of the guild’s members, save for Wigglytuff and Chatot, have arranged themselves as a big circle, in which… he and Pearl are included. Great. What is this about, does anyone have a birthday to celebrate or what? Will they now recite another cheer? Do they have an _expedition cheer_?! He sure hopes not.

“I could scream, I’m so happy,” Sunflora starts in a screechy voice, which really dissents her previous statement, “Everyone is going on the expedition!”

“Yes, our Guildmaster has done it again. I’m so shocked, I’m tingling,” Chimecho adds, and great, this is what they are about to do? _Talk_ about their feelings? Splendid. Just… splendid. He could spend his time with so many more worthwhile endeavours, like trying to find the nearest cliff to jump off from. That would be less painful than _this_.

He tunes everyone out, which works until the moment that Bidoof starts sniffling out loud. Is he about to cry? Great. That was what was missing from this whole scene, was it not? Someone crying. Next thing, they will probably want to go in for a group hug.

If they actually try to do so, and try to force him into it, Darkrai _will_ actually attack them.

He rolls his eye, assured that no one will be watching him, anyways.

“Is something wrong with Bidoof being happy, Duskull?” Dugtrio asks, and apparently, someone was watching. Someone who would not just interpret him as Darkrai… stretching his eye or something. Unfortunately.

“Of course not,” Darkrai answers, and then, before he can hold himself back, some words stumble out of his mouth, and while he agrees with them, saying so out loud was not the best idea, in hindsight. “I am simply annoyed at all of your inane, and, frankly, annoying blathering.”

As he admitted, maybe not the best idea.

At first, there is silence, and then—

“Darcy!” cries Pearl, and of course, she would. “That’s so _mean_!”

Backtrack, he needs to backtrack, right now. “It was meant as a joke. Although judging from your faces, not well-received. Well…” He does not want to apologize! He should not _have_ to apologize to them for simply telling the truth!

But he knows that if he does not, negative feelings will linger, and negative feelings often become physical attacks.

“Do forgive me,” he therefore states, which is the next-best-thing he can give them, and then adds, “I am just not entirely happy at having Team Skull along for the expedition.”

As intended, these words distract the guild’s members and give them a new topic to fixate on.

“Yeah, why did Chatot and the Guildmaster ever allow THEM to JOIN?” Loudred cries, which makes Sunflora try to shush him.

“Not so loud, you blockhead! They might hear you, and remember how the Guildmaster reacted last time?”

Everyone shudders.

“But still, letting those three join… they are just asking for trouble, hey hey!” Corpish concludes, and most other members nod along.

“As such, I would like to propose that all of us apprentices work as one,” Dugtrio speaks up, and Darkrai can _feel_ his gaze on him, but ignores it, “We don’t know what they might be planning, so let’s make sure that for all of us, this expedition will be a success!”

“Yippee! That’s the spirit!” Sunflora shouts, and she is soon joined by everyone but Darkrai. Turns out that their expedition cheer is just shouting as loud as they can.

He _hates_ this.

“Darrrcy! And Pearl, of course! Good to see the two of you in such good health.” And then, a snicker.

Darkrai groans on the inside. On the outside, he remains calm and greets back, “Hello, Cousin Dareios.”

“Good morning, Dareios!” Pearl smiles, not able to keep herself from jumping up and down.

“Going on the expedition?” Another snicker.

“Yeah! I’m really excited!”

“As if he could not tell,” Darkrai say, not bothering to hide his eyeroll. Dareios knows him, by now, and Pearl has also started to realize that he will get annoyed whenever she is behaving childishly.

And there it is, the ever-present snicker. “That mean tongue of yours, Darcy, never stopping in its tracks. But who am I to talk, right?” Dareios moves his eye in a way that could, perhaps, be considered a grin. “Anyways, do you want me to keep more of your money safe? Or do you… need other services?”

Darkrai sighs. Ever since getting Pearl and Dareios into his pranking-business, he has not known peace.

Pearl has truly proven herself as a prank-addict, and Dareios is doing nothing to stop her. If anything, he seems to love having a new partner in crime.

It is a little scary, really, how well the three of them work together. Pearl comes up with the ideas, Darkrai turns them into proper plans and Dareios stocks them up with whatever they need. Just three days ago, there were mushrooms growing all over the guild, courtesy of the three of them.

He will admit, it _was_ funny.

Especially since Chatot almost had a seizure once he saw them and seems to be doubting Team Skull’s good intentions ever since then – after all, it happened conspicuously shortly after they joined their guild.

Maybe he should overthink the revenge he takes – Pearl and Dareios would make rather good henchmen. But Dareios’ intentions are always shrouded in mystery, therefore making him a very dangerous individual to trust with anything, and Pearl… well, she did ruin his plans, before. She really should be punished for that.

“Just the money, today,” Pearl sighs, dejectedly. “Since we’ll be leaving soon, there’s really no time for anything else.

“Ah yes, yes, of course. It will, of course, rest in peace with me. Forever, if you will.” He snickers.

It is always like this – Darkrai almost stops himself from snickering all the time, then he has to meet Dareios again, and he starts snickering again. Is there no end to his humiliation?

They are going to explore Fogbound Lake.

 _Fogbound Lake_.

The same _Fogbound_ _Lake_ that _Uxie_ resides at.

The same _Uxie_ that _hates Darkrai!_

No, no, no, they can’t go there! _Darkrai_ cannot do so! He cannot face Uxie! The other Pokémon is going to see through his disguise in a matter of seconds! And then, he will reveal Darkrai’s true identity, and all of his hard work of endearing himself to Pearl and the rest of Trash Town will have been for naught!

“Duskull, please open your map as well.” Chatot pulls him out of his panic attack – _not panic attack!_ Merely… very fast thinking process about something that gives him _slight distress_.

“Of… Of course.” He immediately does so. Was he asked to do it, before? He did not notice. Darn it, he cannot go there! Uxie is… Uxie will…

He takes a deep breath. _Panicking_ won’t change anything. Not that he _is_ panicking.

Chatot, unaware of Darkrai’s thoughts (as it should be) points out to all of them how they will travel (as if Darkrai doesn’t already know the best routes), and after that, starts assigning groups, because apparently, travelling just in pairs is not save, and neither is a group of a dozen. As such, groups of three it is.

Well, mostly, the exception being Wigglytuff and Chatot, who will be travelling as a pair – much to Wigglytuff’s chagrin. He even calls Chatot a ‘Meanie’ for that, which appears to be a rather strong swear word for him.

Darkrai and Pearl end up together, expectedly – and as the third Pokémon… Bidoof gets assigned to them. Splendid.

_(Oh come on, he would rather travel with Wigglytuff—_

_Actually, he would not. Bidoof is preferable because Bidoof is actually predictable.)_

“We’re in the same group!” Bidoof exclaims, and while he does sound happy enough, he also seems a little… apprehensive. Scared. Probably because of Darkrai, who has made it very clear that he does not care for the other, a message that Bidoof apparently finally understood. Good. Darkrai would not be satisfied if a useless Pokémon such as Bidoof started to like him.

“That’s really great!” Pearl answers and Darkrai barely holds himself back from rolling his eye. He already made the mistake of not doing so once, today. He will not repeat it.

“Yeah! I hope I can keep up with you, you two are so strong…”

“Of course I am,” Darkrai answers, and Pearl, the traitor that she is, exclaims, “Aw, you’re strong too, Bidoof!”

He is about to gag, these false compliments are getting on his nerves.

“So, that is all,” Chatot, thankfully, interrupts the two buffoons, “So let’s get to it and move out!”

Maybe, Darkrai surmises, it is good that he got assigned into the same group as Bidoof – since the young Pokémon is very afraid of him, he will at least keep out of Darkrai’s business.

He _does not_ keep out of Darkrai’s business. Instead, he tries for some small talk. He _also_ does not realize that Darkrai is unwilling to talk, even though he either ignores the other’s questions or answers in monosyllabic answers. No, Bidoof simply chatters on, unaware.

Luckily, Pearl _does_ notices and starts answering in his stead, which leads to the two children talking merrily and Darkrai practically leading the expedition.

He did not sign up for this! ( _He kind off did_ )

Moreover, not only does he have to lead their group now, he is also still fretting about his possible meeting with Uxie.

… Maybe he won’t even meet the other Legendary. After all, Chatot at one point told them that, for them, common Pokémon they are, Fogbound Lake is a mystery and they are not sure if it even exists. So maybe they will just not find it and return to the guild without seeing Uxie?

Then again, Wigglytuff might have been there already and met Uxie – it would not be the first time he decided on something because he knows that it will end with satisfaction.

Or perhaps, they might find the lake while Uxie is away on other business? There are ways to hide the Time Gear located there, because no Pokémon can stay in the same place for centuries, unless asleep or imprisoned. Darkrai knows from experience, of course. Well, at least in the first case. As far as imprisonment goes, he would have to get caught in the first place, something that has never before happened.

Well, the first and third option would be his favourite. The second one is, unfortunately, likely.

Three hours pass and finally, Darkrai has had enough. He had tried to be nice, or at least, amicable. But the fact that their small group got turned around two times already on a wrong path, and the constant chatter of his two… _companions_ leads him to snap at the two of them, without even being able to find a proper reason.

“Will you two just _tone it down_?!” There, he did not even tell them to shut up! He knows how to be polite!

“W-What?” Bidoof gasps, staring at him with wide eyes.

Pearl, unexpectedly, does not share that expression. No, instead, she narrows her eyes and folds her flippers in front of her chest. “We aren’t being loud, you know?”

“Yes you are,” he hisses back, “You are giving me a headache.”

“Well, did you make sure you drank enough?”

“Of course I-, what?”

“Well, you always get headaches more easily when you don’t drink enough. Besides, it’s hot, so just drink something now.”

He huffs and stares down at her. “I am not _thirsty_.”

“I know,” she sighs, unfolding her arms. “But you still need to drink more often. So just drink a little bit, okay? And we’ll be quieter in turn, yeah?” With that, she turns around and continues to walk as if he never said anything in the first place.

Bidoof, after staring at Darkrai for a moment, gives a small squeak and then hurries after her, soon resuming their conversation. Darkrai acts as if he does not hear when they start theorizing if his nightmares have been worse than usual, leading to his ‘bad mood’. He is not in a bad mood, and his nightmares were of the usual kind.

But still…

Now that Pearl mentioned it, he notices that he did, indeed, not yet drink anything today. Which does not mean anything – he would not let his emotions be influenced by the lack of it. He is not so _weak_.

The budding headache _does_ lessen after he puts the flask away. Probably because Pearl and Bidoof are not being so loud, anymore.

The sun is already setting when they finally arrive at the camp – although it is hard to make out through the fog that permeates the air even here, still almost an hour’s walk away from Fogbound Lake. The camp had been erected already, by those who arrived earlier. Darkrai would not admit it, but his habit of walking the less obvious paths seems to be one of the reasons for them having needed much longer for their travels than most others.

Besides, Pearl and Bidoof constantly chatting left Darkrai to do most of the fighting, which also cost them some time. So really, he is not at fault, at all.

At least they are not the last ones to arrive. After everything that happened at morning (most importantly, Darkrai accidentally insulting the guild members to their faces), Darkrai would not ever have lived it down if his small group arrived last.

Chatot leads them to one of the tents, which are, very, very unfortunately in the shape of Wiggyltuff’s head. Whoever had the idea to _do_ something like this? _Why_ would anyone want to do something like this? Would it not be so much more complicated to create them in the likeness of the idiotic Pokémon?

He decides that, once he has created his dark world, he will find out who had the idea and make them regret it.

Much more unfortunately, however they have to remain in their previously assigned groups, which is how Darkrai finds himself in the same tent as Bidoof, listening to his and Pearl’s chatter. Ugh, he just wants to sleep, nightmares be darned! But no, instead—

“So, obviously I had to help them!” Bidoof boasts, a wide grin on his face. Does he believe his little story about helping a small family of Oddish impressive? It is not.

“I mean, who wouldn’t?” Pearl’s question is rhetorical, of course. Still, it just rubs him wrong just now and…

He blames his tiredness, as well as the two of them having annoyed him the entire day, already, for not being able to hold back his scathing answer. “Well, obviously I would not.”

“What?!” Bidoof cries out the same second that Pearl shouts, “Darcy!” in an affronted voice.

“What I said, _Bidoof_. I would not have helped them, as I think that, really, they brought that situation upon themselves. If they insisted on traversing the Dungeon, even if they knew that none of them were able to fight in any capability, it is their own fault for getting stuck. Nothing but their own ignorance was the reason for it.”

“But even then, at least they realized they were in over their heads!” Pearl objects, “They may have caused it, somewhat, but since they couldn’t help themselves anymore, lending them a hand is just natural!”

“Maybe for you,” he bites back, “Personally, I believe that if you help those that are responsible for their own misfortune, you only teach them to repeat what they did, because they never felt the consequences.”

“So you’d just, uh, leave them?” Bidoof asks, and oh, how brave. Not immediately yelping and quieting as soon as Darkrai speaks. The day spent together must have made him bold. Much too bold for Darkrai’s liking.

“Exactly,” he finally answers, making no effort to keep the vitriol out of his voice.

“That’s a very… depressing way to look at things,” Pearl sighs, and then, new vigour in her voice, says, “So, if, hypothetically, you were… in a similar situation—”

“I am not an Oddish, in case you had not noticed.”

“I said hypothetically! But have it your way, then, just imagine you were, uh, knocked out by a Pokémon that you knew was stronger, after you tried fighting it, knowing that—”

“I do not fight Pokémon that I know are stronger than me—”

“I said _hypothetically_! Geez, do you have no imagination or what? So, yeah, you’re now knocked out in the Dungeon, with no way out because you’re not an explorer, wouldn’t you want someone to save you?”

“Now, first of all, that will not happen to me. I am always prepared for the worst scenario,” At least he _would_ be, if certain Pokémon did not decide to make it their calling to make it their job to stop his ‘evil deeds’, “But, in this very hypothetical situation – Of course I would want someone to get me out.”

“But… But you said that you wouldn’t—“

“What did I say, exactly, Pearl?”

“That you… wouldn’t help them, if they brought the situation on themselves?”

“Exactly. Now, you are asking if I’d want to be helped – and the answer is obviously yes.”

“But that… doesn’t make sense…?” Bidoof, once again, dares to speak up.

“Why?” he asks back, “Because I’m not following a silly ‘Golden Rule’? Just because I would not do the same for others does not mean that I do not want to reap the benefits of other’s friendliness.”

Bidoof and Pearl stare each other. Then, Pearl turns directly towards Darkrai and, looking him into the eye, in a very solemn voice, asks, “Who hurt you, Darcy?”

He huffs. “What are you talking about? Obviously, no one hurt me.” Where did she even get that idea from? “Just because I follow a slightly different moral compass than the two of you does not mean that I have a tragic past that you must understand to suddenly make me realize the fault of my previous ways. I like to stay alive, that is all.”

“You’re a Ghost Type.”

“Alive-ish, then.” And he cannot believe that he just used such a childish word as ‘alive-ish’. He must be truly tired.

Pearl sighs. “Okay, let’s just agree to disagree? I don’t want an argument right now. And I know we kinda baited you, but you also-, No, forget it. As I said, I don’t want to argue.”

How great. He also does not want to argue.

“Accepted,” he therefore answers, “But only if you two finally go to sleep, properly.”

“Yeah, yeah, Grandpa needs his sleep--, Sorry, I’m sorry, okay? Bad comment. Let’s just… Sleep?”

He nods, not caring if they can see it in the dark, and turns his back towards them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an exam today, and editing/rewriting on top of that got somewhat stressful. I therefore decided to cut the chapter here (also because if I did not, it would have 13.000+ words) and concentrate on making the other half much nicer for the next update.
> 
> Speaking of the next update, it will be on the Ides of March (15.03.2021)! Yay! Please do not stab me, though.
> 
> That said, thank you all once again for all the appreciation you give this story, and see you at the next update!


End file.
